Flight Diverted to Detroit for Unruly Passenger

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DETROIT, MI – A flight from New York to Chicago was diverted to the Detroit Metro Airport about 8 p.m. Thursday night after a passenger attacked a flight attendant, according to media reports.

The flight attendant was cleaning a spilled drink when the passenger suddenly attacked her, a passenger told WXYZ-TV.

Matthew Goldgraben, who was on the flight, told the television station that the woman seated next to him on the plane ripped off the flight attendant’s necklace, had her hands on the attendant’s neck and throat, and was scratching her before three male passengers restrained her.

The woman was taken into custody by Detroit airport police, and the FBI is investigating.

In an e-mail to The Detroit News, an airport spokesperson said: “Shuttle America flight 3461, operating as United Express from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, diverted to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport Thursday night due to a disruptive passenger.”

After about an hour, the flight with 69 passengers and four crew members on board resumed. Video from WDIV-TV showed other passengers applauding as authorities carried the woman from the plane. The diverted flight arrived at O’Hare about an hour and three minutes late.

The woman may have been suffering from some kind of medical condition, according to authorities.

The situation wasn’t the only one Thursday at the airport, which was briefly locked down after a suspicious package was found at the North Terminal curb.

Airport spokesman Brian Lassaline told The Detroit News the package was determined to be a bag of books.

“Operations resumed relatively quickly,” he said.