Joseph Schifano, a 64-year-old Floridian, was arrested Thursday after crossing the yellow police tape cordoning off a plane that had slammed into a trailer park, ClickOrlando reported.
Schifano at first insisted that he was a medical worker but was unable to produce identification, according to the police complaint, the outlet noted.
He was then warned to stay away from the scene but was later caught crossing into the restricted area, ClickOrlando reported. (RELATED: ‘Oh, S–t’: Newly Released Audio Captures Horrifying Final Moments Of Pilot Before Plane Crash)
The complaint notes that authorities told Schifano that he was just being “nosey,” and that he “said that he knew he was wrong, apologized, and said he was trying to capture a video for a media company in an attempt to make money.”
Schifano faces a misdemeanor charge of obstructing or resisting an officer without violence and was released on a bond of $500, the outlet reported.
The Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department responded to the scene of the crash within minutes of the call. “The call came in at 7:08 this evening. We arrived on scene at 7:15,” the Twitter page for the department noted.
The call came in at 7:08 this evening. We arrived on scene at 7:15. https://t.co/cGeeMfm2Sb
— Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department (@clearwaterfire) February 1, 2024
Included in that tweet was a video of a small, heavily damaged plane on fire and billowing smoke. “At the time we found four trailers heavily involved- mobile homes- that we quickly extinguished…and identified that there was an aircraft in one of them,” Fire Department Chief Scott Ehlers said in a video tweeted by his department.
Fire Chief Scott Ehlers talks about this evening’s plane crash. pic.twitter.com/3omJk3CkyT
— Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department (@clearwaterfire) February 1, 2024
The aircraft pilot and two other persons were killed in the crash, investigators said, according to ClickOrlando.