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Delta flight diverted after passenger
assaults flight attendant, air marshal, police say
A Delta flight to Los Angeles was diverted Thursday to Oklahoma after a
passenger assaulted a flight attendant and an air marshal who intervened,
officials said.
Flight 342 left Reagan Washington National Airport and landed at Will
Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, after the crew reported a
passenger disturbance, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
A passenger on the flight became combative and assaulted a flight
attendant, Oklahoma City Police Capt. Arthur Gregory said.
“An air marshal on board intervened, at which point the passenger assaulted
the air marshal,” he said. “The air marshal was basically able to get them in
custody.”
Police took the passenger, whose identity was not immediately released, off
the plane, Gregory said.
Officials did not provide the conditions of the flight attendant and air
marshal.
Delta said in a written statement that it “applauds the quick action and
professionalism of the crew and Federal Air Marshals" on the flight that was
diverted after the passenger "became unruly."
The plane spent landed in Oklahoma at 7:30 p.m. and spent about an hour on
the ground before resuming its flight to Los Angeles, Gregory said.
There has been an increase in disruptive passengers or violent assaults on
planes this year which prompted an FAA “zero tolerance” policy put in place in
January.
The FAA has slapped some passengers with tens of thousands of dollars in
fines. In late November the agency proposed more than $161,800 in all in fines
against eight passengers.
There have been more than 5,500 “unruly passenger reports” this year, with
more than 3,900 mask-related incidents, according to the FAA.
In one attack on a flight attendant in October, a 20-year-old male
passenger allegedly struck an attendant in the face and gave her a
concussion.
In May, a woman on a Southwest Airlines fight punched a flight attendant,
causing the attendant to lose two of her teeth, officials said.
Some passengers have been charged with federal crimes. Right before
Thanksgiving, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland directed federal prosecutors
to make crimes on commercial airliners a priority.
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