Paris Hilton's youngest brother surrendered to authorities Tuesday to face charges of interfering with flight crew members six months after he allegedly threatened to kill crew members and the co-pilot of a British Airways flight, according to court documents.
Conrad Hughes Hilton III, 20 had to be restrained by five flight attendants on board British Airways Flight 269 last July during a series of profanity-laced tirades in which he accused the flight crew of "taking the peasants' side," according to an FBI affidavit included in a criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
The great-grandson of the hotel chain's founder told the co-pilot of the London-to-L.A. flight: "If you wanna square up to me, bro, then bring it on and I will [EXPLETIVE] fight you," according to the affidavit.
Hilton told one flight attendant that he was angry over a recent breakup, according to the affidavit. Robert Shapiro, the Hilton family's lawyer, couldn't immediately be reached for comment, but TMZ, which first reported Hilton's arrest, quoted the attorney as saying that just before the flight, Hilton had taken a sleeping pill whose side effects can include aggressive outbursts.
"My father will pay this out, he has done it before. Dad paid $300,000 last time."
According to the FBI affidavit, drink service was delayed about 40 minutes by a disruptive passenger who investigators later identified as Hilton. Witnesses estimated that he got out of his seat at least 20 times during the 10½-hour flight — beginning as soon as the flight took off, while the seat belt sign was still lighted.
One flight attendant told the FBI that Hilton claimed he could walk around because the flight crew was allowed to. Told that he did, indeed, have to sit down and buckle up, Hilton "got very aggressive and used profanity," according to the affidavit. This flight attendant told the FBI that the flight was just "one tirade after another."
The flight's customer services manager, in charge of the 21-member crew, told the FBI that he, too, tried to get Hilton to calm down, but Hilton yelled at him several times to "[EXPLETIVE] off." The manager said he got alerts over the intercom every time Hilton disturbed a crew member — alerts that were, according to the affidavit, "continual throughout the flight."
A different flight attendant told the FBI that on one of his perambulations, Hilton complained that a male passenger was "giving him the 'stink eye'" and that he was concerned that the man "either wants to fight me or [EXPLETIVE] me but I am not gay." Soon, Hilton was threatening to kill the flight attendant, he told the FBI.
Eventually, the crew manager said, the pilot authorized a team of five flight attendants to restrain Hilton with blankets and aviation restraints, whereupon he again began screaming obscenities and saying his career as a model would be "ruined," according to the affidavit.
A flight attendant told the FBI that she had never seen a passenger "'lose it' consistently for four hours at a time on an aircraft." She said Hilton's "every sentence contained the 'F' word" — variations of which Hilton is quoted by witnesses as having dropped at least 25 times in the FBI affidavit.
At one point, Hilton charged that flight crew members were "taking the peasants' side" and warned that he would "[EXPLETIVE] own anyone on this flight; they are [EXPLETIVE] peasants," according to the FBI, which said Hilton boasted: "My father [multimillionaire L.A. real estate mogul Rick Hilton] will pay this out, he has done it before. Dad paid $300,000 last time."
Whatever happened "last time" wasn't explained.