NYC Candidate Stunned His Old Hijacking Try Isn't an Issue

A New York City mayoral candidate says he's "shocked" that so little attention has been paid to his arrest for trying to hijack an airliner at gunpoint 17 years ago. In July 2000, Aaron Commey (it's pronounced KOH-may) boarded a National Airlines plane in New York and ordered the pilots to fly to Argentina or Antarctica, per the AP. It never took off and nobody was injured. He was acquitted by reason of insanity in 2003 and was released from a prison medical facility in 2015.

The Libertarian candidate tells the news magazine City & State New York that it's reasonable for voters to wonder if he's suited for office and that he's surprised the issue has gotten so little attention. "I was shocked, because I expected this to be the first thing out the gate and like nobody said anything." Commey, who was 22 at the time and suffering from delusional disorder and paranoid schizophrenia, says he has fully recovered and is "committed to nonviolence." Commey says he has experienced and witnessed injustice and wants to change the system.

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