Passenger attacks crew on US flight

2012-03-28 20:38

Charlotte - A female passenger aboard a US Airways flight was arrested after attacking crew members and being wrestled to the floor by an off-duty deputy on board, an arrest report released on Wednesday said.

The apparently intoxicated passenger kicked, spit on and cursed at a flight attendant after the crew member refused to serve her alcohol, according to the arrest report by Lee County Port Authority Police.

The incident on the flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Fort Myers, Florida, happened on Tuesday afternoon.

Police charged Peggy S Albedhady-Sanchez, 50, with three counts of battery and one count of interfering with an aircraft, the report said. A message left at Albedhady-Sanchez's home was not immediately returned.

US Airways spokesperson Bill McGlashen said he didn't know why the passenger became unruly, how she was restrained or whether any flight attendants were injured.

"All I know is that during the flight the passenger became disruptive to the point where the crew took the precautionary measure of restraining her in the cabin," McGlashen said.

A male attendant who tried to intervene was slapped across the jaw, the arrest report said. Albedhady-Sanchez kicked a second male flight attendant in the groin as the off-duty deputy wrestled her to the back of the jet, the report said.

Albedhady-Sanchez continued kicking after her hands were cuffed by plastic restraints and broke an armrest, the report said.

The woman was screaming and crying while she was checked by medics in the terminal before being taken away, according to Raleigh TV station WCNC, which said one of its reporters spoke to arriving crew members in the terminal.

- AP