Man Commits Suicide on United Flight After Arrest In Miami
Gerold Georgettis committed suicide on a flight between Washington DC and Los Angeles, after being released on bond in Miami for driving through a Car Dealer Showroom and setting fire to it. In a strange and bizarre twist, the man made news headlines for two different sad and horrific incidents.
It all started when Gerold Georgettis felt he got a bad deal on a car purchase in North Miami.
Gerald Georgettis, accused of torching a north Miami-Dade dealership Saturday because of a dispute over a new car he had purchased, resigned on Monday from his job with the city of North Miami Beach.
Georgettis, 56, had managed and booked acts into the city’s Jules Littman Performing Arts Theater for the last four years.
North Miami Beach Mayor Raymond Marin said Georgettis handed in his resignation Monday morning.
On Saturday, Georgettis walked into the Metro Ford at 900 NW Seventh Ave. Upset over the deal he had made for a new Ford Escape, he was told he could not change it.
Georgettis then plowed the new car through the showroom glass, doused it with a flammable liquid and set it on fire, damaging the dealership and as many as a dozen more cars on display. via the Miami Herald (More Here)
After being released on a 1,500 dollar bail he then quits his job and makes his way to Washington, D.C. After boarding the United flight to Los Angeles, he then commits suicide in the lavatory.
A man apparently hanged himself in an airplane lavatory during a flight that was diverted to Denver after his body was discovered, police said.
Denver medical examiner’s spokeswoman Michelle Weiss-Samaras said an autopsy was planned for the body of Gerald Georgettis, 56, of Miami, which was found Wednesday on a United Airlines flight from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles.
“Right now, everything leads us to believe the male involved did commit suicide,” police Detective Virginia Lopez said. No other passengers were ever in danger, she added.
via AP
All told, a very sad story of a man whose life spiraled out of control.
Update: A member of the FlyerTalk Forum was on the flight. He raves about the professionalism of the Flight Attendants. Read about it here.
February 9th, 2006 at 4:24 pm
[…] Read the bizarre story of Gerald Georgettis at The Travel Bloggers […]
February 9th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
How sad.
I live in Miami — obviously the dealership torching was quite a news item.
But there was nothing in today’s paper about this tragedy on the plane. I just caught it on the news after reading your front page.
His former attorney (from several years ago) was just on the news and said “I guess he just gave up”.
Apparently the ‘torching’ was out of character for him based upon co-workers of the past 7 years.
They are speculating that he was on the way to his native Australia, but that has not been confirmed.
How awful for the passengers — but how sad that his man thought there was no other way out.
February 11th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
[…] What has been going on lately in the friendly skies? First we have a man comitting suicide in the bathroom of a United Airline fight and now a woman brings a human head aboard a plane? At least I guess she did not being it on with her carry on luggage. Now this woman faces potential jail time. Just one question, nice screening over in Haiti. We must take out the tweezers and nail clippers, but we’ll let the head go. […]