TAMPA -- A passenger on a US Airways MetroJet flight from New York to Tampa spent much of the trip in handcuffs Friday after he refused repeated requests not to smoke in the lavatory of a Boeing 737 jetliner and became verbally abusive and physically threatening, officials said.

The man, who carried identification listing an address in Zephyrhills, was identified by Tampa International Airport police as Manuel Soto, 40. TIA spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan said TIA police reported that the incident unfolded this way:

Passengers aboard MetroJet Flight 2663 from LaGuardia Airport to Tampa complained of smelling smoke in a lavatory. Flight attendants identified Soto as the smoker and warned him not to do it again.

"He did it a couple of times, at least twice, and when he was confronted again, he became verbally abusive," Geoghagan said. "He also became physically threatening. He said he was going to the cockpit to complain to the captain. At one point the captain came back. The captain knew there were off-duty New York City police aboard and asked for their help."

The police officers handcuffed Soto and put him in the back of the plane. "He screamed through the rest of the flight that the plane was going to crash, and he was going to heaven," Geoghagan said.

Soto was arrested by the FBI and charged with interfering with the operation of a flight crew, said TIA police Lt. Robert Dixon.

An FBI spokesman confirmed that agents went to the airport to take a man into custody, but would not provide further details.

Parents of 6-year-old with gun not charged

TAMPA -- No charges will be filed in Hillsborough County against the family of a 6-year-old boy who accidentally fired a gun in school Tuesday.

But a relative in Georgia might face charges if that state has a law like the one in Florida prohibiting unsafe storage of a firearm, Hillsborough sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said Friday.

"We're talking to authorities in Georgia. We're waiting to hear from them," Carter said.

The boy, whose identity has not been released, put a .22-caliber revolver in his pants pocket before going to school at Robinson Elementary. He later told police that he'd found the gun in a drawer, where his 10-year-old brother had stashed it after taking it from a relative who lived in Georgia.

The gun fired when the boy reached into his pocket for some change.

Nobody was injured, but the accident led Florida's Department of Children and Families to take the boy and his four siblings, ages 14 to a toddler, into temporary custody.

The children were released back to their mother Wednesday.

The boy, who is mentally handicapped, lacks the ability to intentionally commit a crime, said Pam Bondi, a spokeswoman for the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors are convinced that the boy's parents didn't know the gun was in their house, so they will not be charged.

Experts to discuss long-term health care

As baby boomers age over the next three or four decades, the nation will have to devote more and more resources to long-term care. Experts will gather at the University of South Florida on Monday to discuss how that care should be delivered: through nursing homes, in-home care or other arrangements.

Organized by U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., the discussion is open to the public and will run from 8 a.m to 1 p.m. at the College of Public Health, 13201 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Tampa.

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