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An American Airlines flight turned around after a passenger assaulted a member of the cabin crew, an affidavit from an FBI agent says.
Flight 3359 took off from Hartford, Connecticut, on Tuesday, bound for Chicago.
According to data from Flightradar24, it departed four and a half hours later than scheduled — but there was further disruption in store.
Around thirty minutes into the journey, a passenger stood up, started to take off his shirt, and ran to the back of the plane shouting, “Help me,” per the affidavit, which was made by FBI special agent Alan Szulwach.
It adds that the passenger, 24-year-old Julius Jordan Priester, then grabbed a flight attendant by the collar and “forcefully brought the victim to the ground.”
The affidavit says Priester then tried to drag the flight attendant up the aisle while ignoring the crew’s instructions to stop.
Another flight attendant notified the captain, who declared an emergency and diverted the Embraer 175 back to Hartford.
The affidavit says other passengers intervened to stop Priester, who was returned to a seat.
It adds that he then “continued to act in an erratic manner,” and made “incoherent statements.”
According to Flightradar24, the E175 landed back at Bradley International Airport just over an hour after taking off from there.
Priester was removed from the plane by state police and taken to a local hospital for evaluation, where he was arrested by FBI agent Szulwach.
The Justice Department said Priester appeared in a Hartford court on Wednesday and has been detained pending a bond hearing scheduled for Friday.
Priester was charged with one count of interference with a flight crew. If found guilty, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside US working hours.
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