An American Airlines flight from Miami to Chicago made an emergency landing in Indianapolis on Monday after an unruly passenger hit two officers on the plane, reports said.
American Airlines flight from Miami to Chicago diverted to Indianapolis for unruly passenger http://t.co/RQ0LxPR2mB pic.twitter.com/zLFm16QBjo
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) September 14, 2015
An unruly woman’s attacks on a plane headed to Chicago force a landing at @INDairport. http://t.co/7GEolX1NqM pic.twitter.com/Xx2D1xdTF9 — IndyStar (@indystar) September 16, 2015
Daniela Velez-Reyes, 25, has been identified by the police as the unruly passenger who caused commotion in American Airlines Flight 1284, Monday evening. She has been detained at the Marion County Jail in Indianapolis. The woman is charged with battery resulting in physical injury, battery without injury, criminal recklessness, disorderly conduct, battery of a public safety officer, and disrupting the operation of an aircraft.
Based on the online flight log, the incident occurred at around 5:30 pm EST. According to one passenger, Velez-Reyes exhibited weird behavior.
“She was disoriented through the entire flight, not being able to find her seat, walking back and forth,” said fellow passenger Marian Frendt, “And when she came to the back, she was sweating profusely.”
The woman kicked the seat of the passenger in front of her but when the man turned to ask her, she hit him.
Unruly passenger kissed, then punched flight attendant on AA flight, authorities say: http://t.co/ilnuF3MSPo pic.twitter.com/LhSqHERYpX
— ABC News (@ABC) September 15, 2015
A flight attendant came to settle the commotion but Velez-Reyes, according to a witness, “grabbed the flight attendant by the face and kissed her, then punched her in the face.”
The pilot decided to make an emergency landing in Indianapolis at around 5:45 p.m. according to Jeff Dutton, Indianapolis International Airport communications manager. The unruly passenger kicked the police officer who escorted her off the plane.
The victims were a 52-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman. Reports said they suffered minor injuries.
The flight interruption caused the passengers to arrive in Chicago 90 minutes late.
It is still not clear whether the U.S. Department of Justice will make federal charges against the unruly passenger, according to ABC News.