Pilot’s Wife Says He Is Not A Murderer
The wife of the pilot who tried to shut off the engines of a Horizon Air flight says the incident left her in a state of shock.
After Joe Emerson’s first court appearance on Thursday, his wife Sarah Stretch told reporters “This is not my Joe. He never would’ve done that… That is not the man that I married.”
His defense attorney said Emerson had “no intention to harm himself or other people.”
Emerson was riding in the cockpit as an off-duty pilot when prosecutors say he tried to cut the engines by turning on the fire suppression system. He was restrained for the rest of the flight and has been charged with attempted murder. He was also fired by Alaska Airlines.
He told police he’d had a nervous breakdown and hadn’t slept for 40 hours at the time of the incident.
