A jet plane traveling to Detroit from Omaha on Thursday evening was forced to make an emergency landing after a 23-year-old passenger shoved a flight attendant, threatened to kill him and lunged in an apparent effort to open an emergency exit door midflight, according to the authorities and another passenger.
The man, Mario Nikprelaj of Elkhorn, Neb., was arrested by the police in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after the plane touched down at Eastern Iowa Airport, the authorities said. He was charged with several crimes, including assault and disorderly conduct.
Jonathan Spencer Van der Waarden, a passenger on Flight 3612, which was operated by SkyWest Airlines, an independent carrier that runs regional jets for Delta Air Lines as Delta Connection, was flying home to Michigan after a work trip. He said in an interview on Friday that Mr. Nikprelaj’s behavior had been erratic from the beginning of the flight.
He said that Mr. Nikprelaj had unfastened his seatbelt and stood up during takeoff. Then, during drink service, Mr. Nikprelaj, who was seated in the exit row, prompted panic among passengers when he lunged for an emergency exit in an apparent attempt to fling it open, Mr. Van der Waarden said.
“One guy is yelling: ‘Hey, we need help back here! He’s trying to open the door,’” Mr. Van der Waarden said.
Mr. Van der Waarden said that he felt the plane suddenly being diverted when a pilot, citing an unruly passenger’s behavior, announced that it would be landing in Cedar Rapids.
As the plane was descending, Mr. Nikprelaj began marching toward the front of the plane and again quarreled with passengers and crew members who tried to stop him, Mr. Van der Waarden said.
“He was just being very aggressive,” he said.
Video captured by Mr. Van der Waarden from inside the plane after landing showed a man in a white T-shirt, hands bound behind him, being escorted off the plane by law enforcement officers. It remained grounded for more than two hours while the police took statements from passengers and the crew, Mr. Van der Waarden said.
SkyWest Airlines confirmed in a statement that the flight had been diverted “due to an unruly customer” and that the plane later continued to Detroit after that person was detained.
In addition to assault and disorderly conduct, Mr. Nikprelaj was charged with harassment, unlawful possession of prescription medication and a failure to affix a proper tax stamp on 41 pills of Alprazolam, an anti-anxiety drug commonly sold as Xanax, which the police found on him at the time of the arrest, according to a criminal complaint filed on Friday by the Linn County assistant attorney. The Cedar Rapids Police Department said on Thursday that Mr. Nikprelaj could face additional charges.
Mr. Nikprelaj could not be reached for comment on Friday, and it was not clear if he had a lawyer. He appeared before a judge on Friday morning, and a judge set his bail at $10,000.
Aishvarya Kavi works in the Washington bureau of The Times, helping to cover a variety of political and national news.
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