A former NFL player is facing criminal charges after peeing on a 78-year-old Maine woman during a flight from Boston to Dublin, Ireland, early Sunday morning, according to court documents.
Wakefield resident Gosder Cherilus, 40, is facing charges of interfering with flight operation, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in connection with the incident, according to court records.
The incident happened on Delta Flight 154, which left from Boston Logan Airport’s Terminal E Saturday night, according to court documents. Cherilus appeared to have become intoxicated prior to the flight and continued drinking while onboard.
For reasons not specified in court documents, Cherilus argued with other passengers over the seating arrangements on the flight. Witnesses described the behavior of the football player, who investigators estimated to be 6-foot-6 and approximately 280 pounds, as “disruptive, irritable, delirious and aggressive.”
Then, less than an hour into the flight, Cherilus “walked back to seat 4C, fully exposed his genitals and began urinating on [the 78-year-old woman], emptying his entire bladder for approximately 20 seconds,” according to court documents. The flight crew and other passengers were shocked by his behavior, but tried to stop him grabbing his hands from his genitals and demanding that he return to his seat, court documents state.
Cherilus then woke up a 68-year-old man and struck him in the face while arguing with him over the seating arrangement, according to court documents. Eventually, the flight crew and other passengers convinced Cherilus to go back to his seat, at which point he passed out, documents state.
As a result of the incident, the flight crew decided to return to Boston shortly after 2 a.m. and requested that law enforcement respond to the gate, according to court documents. Massachusetts State Police troopers and other law enforcement officers boarded the plane and asked Cherilus to leave, at which point he became “irate and uncooperative.”
Law enforcement tried to physically restrain him to get him off the flight, but due to his size and strength, it took four people and two sets of handcuffs, according to court documents. He was arrested as soon as he was taken on to the jet bridge and held on $2,500 bail. The other passengers on the plane flew to Dublin on a later flight on Sunday, according to WCVB.
Cherilus was arraigned Monday morning in East Boston District Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to court documents. Judge Debra DelVecchio kept his bail at $2,500, but ordered that he refrain from consuming drugs and alcohol, contacting witnesses and going to Logan Airport if not traveling.
“It’s pretty egregious what you did, as alleged,” DelVecchio told Cherilus during the arraignment, according to The Boston Globe.
His attorney, Brian J. Sullivan, did not return a request for comment Monday morning. The Globe reported that he left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.
Cherilus played football for Boston College and was drafted to the NFL in 2008, according to WCVB. The offensive tackle played for the Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts.
