'Intoxicated' United Airlines Passenger Fined $10,000 for Urinating on Seat During Trans-Atlantic Flight

A United Airlines passenger has been charged with reckless behavior and fined $10,000 for reportedly urinating in his seat during a trans-Atlantic flight that had to be diverted to Dublin, Ireland. 

Zachary Greear, who resides in New York City, received a two-month suspended sentence and a fine of €5,000 ($5,154), plus an order to make an additional €5,000 charity donation, after he disrupted a United Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Newark, N.J., on Monday, Jan. 13, the Irish Court Service confirmed to PEOPLE.

Greear, 34, mixed the tranquilizer Xanax with alcohol to combat his nerves from flying before he started acting “unruly,” two hours into the flight and urinated in his seat and down the aisle, police said, per The Guardian and The Irish Independent.

Greear’s actions also caused the flight to dump more than $30,000 worth of fuel in the process, according to the outlets. 

The Irish Court Service confirmed to PEOPLE in a statement that Greear received three charges for “engage[ing] in behavior likely to cause serious offense or annoyance to any person on board the aircraft,” severe “intoxication” and “behavior of a threatening, abusive or insulting nature.”

The 34-year-old kept acting erratically after he was “requested by a member of the crew of the aircraft to cease such behavior,” the Court Service added.

Greear was arrested at Dublin Airport, according to The Guardian. Officers from the Irish police said that he “couldn’t understand where he was” at the time of his arrest, the outlet added. 

He pleaded guilty to the three offenses under the Air Navigation and Transport Act, per multiple reports.

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Judge Michéle Finan said during the hearing on Monday, that the punishment “doesn’t even touch the damage that this man has caused.” The judge also told Greear to return to court on Tuesday, Jan. 14 with “double that,” The Guardian reported. 

“Can you imagine the fear and trauma he caused to a pilot who is trying to manage people safely on his aircraft, to passengers, to employees of the airline who have to dump fuel and turn around a flight and land in a jurisdiction they never expected to be in?” Finan reportedly said, according to the outlet.

In a statement, United Airlines told PEOPLE that “United flight 71 from Amsterdam to Newark diverted to Dublin Airport on Monday after a passenger became disruptive.”

” Law enforcement met the aircraft on arrival in Dublin and removed the passenger. The flight then continued as scheduled, which departed at 12:19 p.m. local time.”