{"id":11578,"date":"2024-01-10T13:13:31","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T10:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=11578"},"modified":"2024-01-10T13:13:31","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T10:13:31","slug":"american-airlines-passenger-punches-flight-attendant-assaults-police-officers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviation-news.info\/?p=11578","title":{"rendered":"American Airlines passenger punches flight attendant, assaults police officers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aviation News International –<\/p>\n

An American Airlines flight was diverted on Wednesday after a passenger punched a flight attendant multiple times after drinking rum \u2013 and then claimed to not remember it afterward.<\/p>\n

American Airlines flight 1497, which departed from Dallas Fort Worth Airport heading to Bozeman International Airport in Montana, declared a\u00a0Level 2 threat<\/a>\u00a0for the physically abusive behavior by passenger Keith Edward Fagiana, 61. The incident forced the pilot to divert to Amarillo, Texas.<\/p>\n

The incident started mid-flight when a passenger told a flight attendant that Fagiana was \u201cviolently kicking their chair,\u201d according to the criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the North District of Texas.<\/p>\n

The flight attendant asked Fagiana to stop kicking the chair in front of him and he \u201cthen yelled expletives at the flight attendant and punched the flight attendant in the stomach.\u201d The flight attendant \u201ctook a defensive position\u201d and Fagiana stood up and punched the flight attendant three more times, said the complaint, which cited an affidavit from the FBI agent investigating the case.<\/p>\n

Fagiana was physically restrained by the flight attendant and other passengers, put in flex cuff restraints and seated in an empty row. Another flight attendant reported the incident to the pilots in the cockpit.<\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/p>\n

Video taken by another passenger captured the confrontation with the flight attendant. \u201cStop, stop, stop. What the (expletive) are you doing?\u201d the flight attendant yelled at a man hitting him.<\/p>\n

Once at the gate in Amarillo, police officers boarded the plane to escort Fagiana to the Amarillo Airport Police Office. Fagiana told officers the flex cuffs \u201cwere hurting him,\u201d and when officers went to exchange them with steel handcuffs, Fagiana kicked one of the officers \u201cin the groin area and spit on escorting officers.\u201d<\/p>\n