Man who climbed on plane at Las Vegas airport faces charge

A man arrested after climbing onto the wing of an airplane at McCarran International Airport on Saturday faces a trespassing charge, police said.

Alejandro Carlson, 41, climbed onto the commercial aircraft’s wing as it was preparing for takeoff about 1:35 p.m., according to a statement Monday from the Metropolitan Police Department. Video of the incident, taken by a passenger on the airplane, has since gone viral.

Appeared to be an interesting day at McCarran today. pic.twitter.com/M7vv3Gh6oT #vegas

— Mick Akers (@mickakers) December 13, 2020

Police said Carlson eventually fell off the wing. He was taken into custody and transported to University Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries.

“He was booked in absentia for disregard for safety of persons or property and trespassing,” police said.

Carlson is homeless and has mental illness, police said. He has a court hearing set for Tuesday morning, jail records show.

“At no time were passengers onboard the plane in any danger,” police said. “This appears to be an isolated incident.”

Authorities said Carlson climbed a fence at McCarran to access the airport tarmac. McCarran spokesman Joe Rajchel said there is razor wire on top of fences surrounding the airport and that “this was detected as he was climbing the fence,” prompting a quick law enforcement response.

Contact Glenn Puit by email at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.