A Frontier Airlines flight bound for Chicago was forced to divert to Miami International Airport on Sunday after a passenger choked an off-duty flight attendant — moments after attempting to open an emergency exit door and gain access to the cockpit, according to police records.
The passenger, Juan Gabriel Reyes, 51, faces charges of interference with flight crew members and attendants, as well as assault within maritime and territorial jurisdiction, court records show. He has been assigned a federal public defender and has not yet entered a plea.
The incident adds to a growing tally: the FAA has logged 687 reports of unruly passengers so far this year.
Reyes grew disruptive roughly 45 minutes after Frontier flight 3345 took off from San Juan, Puerto Rico, on its way to Chicago-O’Hare International Airport. He demanded to be let off the plane and tried to force open an emergency exit door, according to an arrest affidavit from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and a federal criminal complaint.
When he was stopped from opening the door, Reyes moved toward the cockpit and started “shoving his shoulder aggressively on the pilot’s door,” the documents say.
A flight attendant guided him away from the door and allowed him to use the restroom on his way back to his seat, but Reyes attempted to urinate on the bathroom floor, the affidavit says. Crew members escorted him to a different seat, and an off-duty flight attendant volunteered to sit in his row.
The off-duty attendant stepped away to use the restroom after moving his belongings, but Reyes tried to grab the man’s bag from the floor. When the attendant asked him 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.
Passengers joined on-duty flight attendants to physically restrain Reyes using flex cuffs — which he broke free from multiple times — and seatbelt extenders, the documents say.
One passenger who helped subdue Reyes later posted a video of the incident to his social media pages, which also showed photos of him competing in martial arts events.
The flight was diverted to Miami International Airport and landed around 11:55 p.m. local time 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 to Chicago a few hours later, Frontier Airlines said in a statement.
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