NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – A judge bailed him Thursday afternoon for a man the police at Charleston International Airport arrested after responding to a report of a plane crash during which a man’s ear was supposedly uprooted.
Police say John Yurkovich, 45, was arrested and charged with possession with the intention of distributing meth based on the total weight of a white crystal substance found in his pocket, the report said. A police officer said he found 1.5 grams of the substance, whose field test tested positive for methamphetamine in the man’s pocket.
In court, Yurkovich challenged the meth charge.
“It is not what they say it is. It’s a special kind of … it’s a cat tranquilizer, actually. It is not what they are saying, ”said Yurkovich.
A judge set Yurkovitch $ 50,000 bail on Thursday afternoon.
The incident occurred on a United Airlines plane flying from Newark, New Jersey, to Miami, according to a report of the incident. The plane landed in Charleston at 10:10 am on Wednesday, the report said.
When officers boarded the plane, they reported seeing a man facedown on the floor of the aircraft being restrained with his hands behind his back by zippers and a belt. The man’s face was also covered with his shirt, the report said.
The police took the man for further interrogation.
The victim, who suffered a laceration on his left ear, told police he was sitting next to the man on the flight. He said the man got up from his seat to go to the bathroom and returned shortly afterwards and “looked very agitated”. He said the man started to get restless and bounce on his seat.
The man asked a flight attendant for water and then got up to take what appeared to be pills from his handbag in an upper compartment, the victim said.
The man then sat back in his chair and started “shouting and struggling,” says the report.
The victim said he raised his arm to protect himself from a blow and said the man hit him with a closed fist on the right side of the face, causing his glasses to break.
Witnesses and other passengers intervened to contain the man, the report said.
A second victim said the man hit him and may have broken his nose.
The police spoke to a third victim, who said he was punched in the head as well.
A passenger on the plane who identified himself as a doctor told police he gave Benadryl an injection into the man’s buttocks to help sedate him.
He was detained at the Al Cannon Detention Center and additional charges from the FBI await the states in the report.
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