Wisconsin airline passenger recalls ‘underwear bomber’

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Madison airline passenger says he has some compassion for the “underwear bomber” who tried to bring down their jetliner.

Mike Zantow was the first to testify at this week’s trial of Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The trial ended abruptly when Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty to trying to bring down the jetliner with a bomb in his underwear on Christmas 2009.

While Zantow believes the conviction is just, he tells WKOW-TV that he felt “sad for the guy.”

Zantow wonders how someone in their 20s could “get into their head not only to kill themself, but about 280 other people.”

The bomb that Abdulmutallab carried onto the plane didn’t work. Zantow and other passengers lifted him from his seat and disrobed him as the jetliner made a landing approach in Detroit.