This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A Penn State University professor is facing a disorderly conduct charge after she was arrested on a Miami-bound flight from Nicaragua, authorities say.

Karen Halnon, a 52-year-old associate professor of sociology at the university’s Abington campus, was arrested over the weekend after lighting a cigarette during her flight and ranting about US foreign policy, the Washington Post reported.

In a scene that was captured on video by a nearby passenger, a flight attendant is called over to address what appears to be Halnon preparing to light a cigarette. When asked by the flight attendant if she was indeed smoking, Halnon gestures to the passenger to her left. “You don’t blame him!” the attendant responds.



The video cuts to Halnon addressing the passengers: “The United States has declared war on Venezuela,” a phrase she repeats through the rest of the video.

At one point she says that the United States has declared Venezuela to be a “national security threat”, to which a passenger offscreen retorts, “You’re a national security threat”.

Referring to the former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, she goes on to note that he “nationalized the oil supply, so the people would own the oil”.

Even when the intent to arrest Halnon becomes clear, she continues, announcing, “They already said they’re going to arrest me, so I’m going to tell you more.”

“Oh God,” the passenger recording the incident sighs.

Arrested at Miami international airport, Halnon was charged with disorderly conduct and released once she posted her $500 bond. In an email to the Post, she alleges she was mistreated during her arrest, seeming to equate her treatment to “torture”.

Speaking to Miami’s CBS affiliate, Halnon seemed a bit more glib, saying her attributing blame for the cigarette to another passenger was “a joke”.

“Yes, that was me, and I was actually smoking a cigarette briefly,” she continued. “I took a few puffs out of it … Every other revolutionary smokes.”

The incident follows President Obama’s approval of sanctions against the Venezuelan government last week, which was shortly followed by the American jazz musician Wynton Marsalis cancelling his scheduled appearance in Caracas.

“Imperialism has to stop. And people have to use their voice. We have to act up. It’s necessary,” Halnon said to CBS Miami.

A representative from Penn State-Abington told the Washington Post that the university is aware and looking into the matter.