Frontier passenger chokes off-duty flight attendant after trying to open exit door and cockpit on Chicago flight, police say
By Alexandra Skores, CNN
(CNN) — A Frontier Airlines flight heading to Chicago on Sunday had to divert to Miami International Airport because a passenger choked an off-duty flight attendant shortly after he attempted to open an emergency exit door and enter the cockpit, police records show.
About 45 minutes after Frontier flight 3345 departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico, en route to Chicago-O’Hare International Airport, passenger Juan Gabriel Reyes, 51, became disruptive on board, stating he wanted to get off the plane and making attempts to open an emergency exit door, according to an arrest affidavit from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and a federal criminal complaint.
After he was prevented from opening the door, Reyes approached the cockpit and began “shoving his shoulder aggressively on the pilot’s door,” the documents say.
As a flight attendant ushered him away from the door and allowed him to use the restroom on the way back to his seat, Reyes attempted to urinate on the bathroom floor, the affidavit says. He was escorted to a new seat and an off-duty flight attendant volunteered to sit in his row.
The off-duty flight attendant relocated his belongings and went to use the restroom, but Reyes tried to grab the man’s bag off the floor, according to the affidavit. When he asked Reyes to stop and moved to a seat across the aisle, Reyes “got on top of the victim” and “grabbed the victim by the head and choked him,” the federal complaint says.
Several passengers worked together with on-duty flight attendants to restrain Reyes with flex cuffs, which he broke out of several times, and seatbelt extenders, according to the documents.
The flight was diverted to Miami International Airport and landed around 11:55 p.m. local time on Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
Reyes was taken into custody by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and turned over to the FBI for questioning, according to the documents.
The flight continued onto Chicago a few hours later, Frontier Airlines said in a statement.
Reyes has been charged with interference with flight crew members and attendants and assault within maritime and territorial jurisdiction, court records show.
CNN has reached out to the US Attorney’s Office for information on whether Reyes has made a court appearance or has retained an attorney.
The FAA has received 687 reports of unruly passengers this year. On Friday, a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Minneapolis diverted to Madison, Wisconsin after a passenger made “multiple attempts to try to breach the cockpit,” air traffic control audio shows.
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