Anxious flyer allegedly self-soothes with booze, winds up in flexcuffs

An extremely nervous air traveler attempted to soothe her nerves by guzzling booze — and nearly made it through her hour-long flight without incident — only to become wild-eyed during the landing process, attacking her husband, striking other passengers, and finding herself in flexcuffs, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday.

Alaska Airlines flight 46 was just minutes away from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport on November 12 when Caryn Denise Evan had to be restrained, the complaint states.

It says an off-duty cop aboard the Boeing 737 later told police that he had seen Evan, 38, at the Bethel, Alaska, airport prior to takeoff, where she had been approaching strangers, hugging them, then yelling, "F**k you, bitches, fu***ng bitches."

The short hop was largely uneventful until the aircraft began its descent, according to the complaint. That's when a passenger sitting near Evan, who was in a middle seat in the seventh row of the cabin, pressed their call button to summon a flight attendant, the complaint continued.

"Flight Attendant 1 approached the passenger who requested assistance and observed [Evan] initially laying her head on her husband's shoulder," it explains. "[Evan] then began yelling incoherently and striking her husband in the left shoulder and upper chest area. Flight Attendant 1 called the other flight attendants to come forward to assist with the situation."

In an attempt to de-escalate things, the crew members asked Evan to move to a different seat in the back of the plane, but she refused to budge, the complaint goes on. However, it says, Evan's husband agreed to relocate, and took an unoccupied seat in the last row.

A second flight attendant was able to calm Evan briefly, allowing the rest of the crew to finish preparing the cabin for arrival in Anchorage, the complaint states. But, moments later, a passenger in the sixth row activated their call button, according to the complaint.

Evan "was moving uncontrollably, flailing about, and interfering with the passengers around her," it says. The flight attendant got on the PA system and asked for "an able-bodied person to help assist," and a nurse seated nearby volunteered to sit next to Evan as the cabin crew took their seats for landing.

After the plane touched down and started making its way to the terminal, a third flight attendant went to check on Evan "and found her hitting her head on the seat in front of her and flailing her arms uncontrollably," according to the complaint. The flight attendant feared that Evan was going to injure nearby passengers, and called for a colleague, who wrestled Evan into a pair of flexcuffs, the complaint stated.

The filing noted that Evan "immediately calmed down" once she was restrained. The flight crew asked the tower to have law enforcement meet the aircraft, and the FBI , which has jurisdiction over in-flight crimes, was also called.

The flight attendants told agents that Evan had been served water and "one chardonnay" during the trip, and "did not show signs of intoxication upon ordering her alcoholic beverage," according to the complaint. But, it says, her husband, who had two beers while onboard and did not appear drunk, conceded that Evan "had consumed alcoholic drinks prior to boarding the flight due to her anxiety related to flying."

He recalled Evan having had "approximately two or three drinks prior to boarding the flight and two drinks while in flight," according to the complaint, which says Evan's husband told investigators his wife "often gets mad with and aggressive towards him when she consumes alcohol due to prior relationship issues."

"No conversations about those prior issues were discussed prior to or during this flight, however," the complaint states. "He believed her behavior became aggressive towards the end of the flight after she rapidly consumed the rest of her alcoholic beverage. He described her behavior of being tense and tightly grabbing things[,] or him[,] as normal, but hitting her own head on the seats in front of her is not."

The FBI also interviewed an off-duty police officer who had been seated in the row behind Evan, and said he not only witnessed her alleged behavior aboard the flight, but saw her at the terminal in Bethel before takeoff, according to the complaint.

The officer described Evan as having appeared "very intoxicated," with "an aggressive demeaner [sic]."

"He recalled observing [Evan] bumping into people in the terminal before the flight," the complaint says. "After bumping into them, she would turn to stare at them, hug them as if she was being apologetic, but then immediately get mad and yell aggressively at them saying, 'f**k you, bitches, f***ing bitches.' He observed her husband trying to keep her with him and away from other people."

Although the cop had been wearing earbuds for most of the flight and missed some of the exchanges between Evan and the others, the complaint says he told the FBI that he heard one of the flight attendants telling her to calm down "because she didn't want to put her on the no-fly list with Alaska Airlines."

As for the nurse who was pressed into service to try and help Evan relax, the officer said she "appeared to look visually relieved when airport police got on the plane, as if she was exhausted from sitting beside [Evan]."

Evan refused to speak with law enforcement, and was arrested for interfering with flight crew members, a federal charge that carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison. She was taken to Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, where she was breathalyzed and found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.25 percent, according to the complaint, more than three times the legal driving limit.

The Federal Aviation Administration has received 1,819 reports of unruly passengers so far in 2024, a significant drop from 2021's record high of nearly 6,000. In addition to facing criminal charges, offenders can also be hit with civil fines of up to $37,000 per violation. One incident can result in multiple violations, according to the FAA.

Evan, who does not yet have an attorney listed in court records, remains detained and was unable to be reached for comment. She is due to appear in Anchorage federal court on Friday afternoon.

Alaska Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.