Passengers watched in fear as an “extremely combative” first class passenger attempted to open an aircraft door aboard a Delta Air Lines flight, despite being hit over the head with two wine bottles, a court complaint has revealed.
Joseph Daniel Hudek, 23, of Florida, faces a charge of interfering with flight and cabin crew members carrying a penalty of up to 20 years in jail of a $US250,000 fine.
A complaint filed by FBI special agent Caryn Higley in a US court on July 7 alleges Hudek attempted to open an exit door on of Delta Airlines Flight 129 during its flight to Beijing.
The Boeing 767 had recently departed Seattle with 210 passengers and 11 crew on board and was flying near Vancouver Island in neighboring Canada at the time of the incident.
According to the report, Hudek was seated in seat 1D and had asked for a beer prior to takeoff but did not appear intoxicated. He was traveling on a dependent pass used by family members of Delta employees.
About an hour into the flight, Hudek briefly entered the toilet but exited quickly, asked a flight attendant, ELD, a question and went back in.
He emerged about two minutes later, lunged for the forward right exit door and grabbed the handle in an attempt to open it, the report said.
ELD and a second flight attendant, DS, grabbed Hudek in an attempt to get him away from the door and subdue him but both were pushed away.
ELD signaled for help from nearby passengers and notified the captain, who alerted authorities and turned back to Seattle.
DS continued to struggle with Hudek, who allegedly punched the flight attendant in the face and hit at least one assisting passenger, LBA, in the head with a red dessert wine bottle.
The report said Hudek punched the flight attendant to the floor and continued to hit LBA as they tried to pull him away from the exit door.
“While LBA continued to struggle with Hudek, a flight attendant grabbed two wine bottles and struck Hudek over the head with each, breaking at least one,’’ it said. “According to ELD, Hudek did not seem impacted by the breaking of a full liter red wine bottle over his head, and instead shouted ‘Do you know who I am?’ or something to that extent.’’
Hudek was eventually subdued and restrained using zip ties but he remained “extremely combative’’ and multiple passengers were needed to restrain him until the plane landed safely.
The report said Hudek used significant force to try and open the forward exit door and was able to move the mechanism on push the emergency release half-way up to 90 degrees, alerting the captain that it had been disarmed. A passenger returned the lever to the locked position under guidance from flight attendant ELD.
Hudek was arrested after the plane landed and flight attendant DS and passenger LBA were hospitalized with facial injuries.
The Seattle Times reported there was no suggestion of national security threat and the case was remanded until Thursday.
