A man who the authorities say attacked two teenagers with a fork on a flight from Chicago to Germany over the weekend, forcing the plane to divert to Boston, was arrested and charged with assault, federal prosecutors announced on Monday.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said that Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli, 28, stabbed two 17-year-olds with the metal fork during meal service about two hours into the Lufthansa flight, which had been scheduled to travel from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. He struck one of the passengers in the shoulder and the other in the back of the head, according to a federal complaint filed in the District Court of Massachusetts.
Mr. Usiripalli was arrested on Saturday after the plane landed in Boston. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and up to three years of unsupervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
Mr. Usiripalli, an Indian national, did not have a lawyer listed in his criminal file as of Tuesday afternoon. Lufthansa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was not clear what led to the attack.
One teenager had been asleep in a middle seat, according to prosecutors, when he awoke to see Mr. Usiripalli standing over him. Mr. Usiripalli attempted to stab him in the clavicle area with the fork, prosecutors said in the release, but the passenger escaped injury because a thick sweatshirt blocked the fork. The second teenager was not as fortunate, suffering a gash to the back of the head.
Two flight attendants and a passenger rushed to intervene after hearing the disturbance and tried to restrain Mr. Usiripalli. He then gestured as if firing a gun into his mouth before turning to slap a nearby woman, according to the federal complaint. He also attempted to strike a flight attendant before being subdued.
The flight was diverted and landed safely at Logan International Airport.
Federal prosecutors charged Mr. Usiripalli with assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm while traveling on an aircraft under U.S. jurisdiction. He is set to appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
Mark Walker is an investigative reporter for The Times focused on transportation. He is based in Washington.
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