Passengers of an American Airlines plane helped restrain a man who had beaten a crew member, and handed him over to authorities upon arrival at Los Angeles airport, according to the newspaper.Insider“.
And the newspaper quoted, on Saturday, a statement of the Ministry of Justice, that the passengers helped the crew of the plane, which was heading to Los Angeles Airport, to control and restrain a 33-year-old young passenger, Alexander Tong Ko Lee, following they saw him He hits adding on the plane.
on a flight from #Mexico ???????? to Los Angeles ????????, a passenger hit a flight attendant.
Alexander Tung Cuu Le, 33, of Southern California, was charged with interfering with a flight, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in US federal prison. pic.twitter.com/rvswJmWQTt
– Channel 13 Chiapas (@canal13Chiapas) September 25, 2022
According to the statement, shortly following the plane took off from Los Cabos, Mexico, Lee began behaving unusually, as he moved away from his seat and made gestures that implied threats of violence towards the flight crew.
Lee was then seen hitting a flight attendant so severely that he was unable to carry out his normal duties and was taken to hospital as soon as the plane landed.
After assaulting the steward, the passenger fled towards the back of the plane where he was taken over by several passengers near the exit.
The plane was carrying more than a hundred passengers, and the accident affected the provision of services to them by the cabin crew, who focused on Lee’s monitoring and control.
After Lee was restrained, the crew was still concerned regarding his behavior, and one flight attendant was “shivering so badly that she had difficulty performing her duties” and said the flight was “the longest 1 hour and 58 minutes of my life”.
The statement added that following the plane landed in Los Angeles, the passenger, who is from Orange County, California, was arrested and was being held by the FBI because the accident occurred in mid-air.
33-year-old Alexander Tung Cuu Le from Orange County, California might face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison following assaulting an @AmericanAir flight attendant, according to @TheJusticeDept. Le was banned from traveling American Air indefinitely. ????: Donald Hoover pic.twitter.com/7Q6oLknaX9
— Malik Earnest (@MalikEarnest) September 22, 2022
The Justice Department said the passenger was charged with interfering with flight crew members and flight attendants, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in a federal prison.
The passenger appeared in court in Los Angeles on Thursday, but the case was adjourned until Monday morning for a hearing and remained in custody, according to the newspaper, “Insider”, citing a spokesman for the Department of Justice.
American Airlines said in a statement that it had barred Lee from boarding its planes in the future, and confirmed it was cooperating with law enforcement authorities in their investigation into the crash.