Passenger refused to don mask despite flight attendant warnings, court told

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Regardless of threats of arrest and a ban on Air Canada flights, a passenger on an inbound airplane to Calgary refused to placed on a face masks, courtroom was instructed Wednesday.

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Two flight attendants on a Toronto-to-Calgary flight on July 20, 2021, stated Lacombe resident Courtney Douglas Sailer was repeatedly instructed to place his masks again on after he eliminated it close to the tip of the multi-hour flight.

However each Sylvia Schaefer and Eva Gomes stated Sailer, 39, refused their course to adjust to the federal mandate that air passengers should be masked always once they’re not consuming or ingesting.

Sailer is charged with failing to adjust to directions of a crew member underneath the Canadian Aviation Rules. He faces a most high-quality of $5,000 underneath the Aeronautics Act if convicted.

Schaefer instructed Crown prosecutor Omelia Tedesco-White she handled Sailer after he refused Gomes’ directions to place his masks again on when he was sitting his telephone with earphones on.

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“Eva got here up and instructed me they had been having an issue with a passenger who was refusing to put on a masks,” Schaefer stated.

“I checked my (flight manifest) to see if any passengers had a masks exemption and no person did.”

She stated she approached Sailer, who continued to take a look at his telephone.

“I tapped him on the shoulder and he stated ‘don’t contact me,’ ” Schaefer testified.

She stated she instructed Sailer he may face arrest by police, a high-quality and a ban by the airline if he did not comply, however he refused.

“He stated, ‘No, I’m not sporting it.’ ”

By that point, the flight had began its descent into Calgary and she or he reported the incident to the pilot, who contacted the airport.

“The police met the flight. Everybody needed to stay seated (whereas he was eliminated),” she stated.

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“He walked previous me with no masks on and a giant smile on his face.”

Gomes stated different passengers had been upset by Sailer’s conduct in not maintaining a face overlaying over his mouth and nostril.

Beneath cross-examination, defence lawyer Sean Mihalcheon requested if Gomes discovered the burly Sailer intimidating.

“No,” she stated, earlier than saying the passenger who complained about his conduct was a slight lady with a child.

Const. Simon Walker, who arrested Sailer and eliminated him from the airplane, stated he was co-operative.

Mihalcheon intends to argue the masking mandate violated his consumer’s Constitution rights.

A date to proceed the trial earlier than provincial courtroom Choose Lloyd Robertson might be set Friday.

KMartin@postmedia.com

Twitter: @KMartinCourts