A United Airlines passenger attacked a man midflight, punching him repeatedly in the face until it was bloody, authorities said.

Summary: A man on a United Airlines flight attacked a sleeping passenger, punching him repeatedly until his face was bruised and bloody. The suspect, Everett Chad Nelson, claimed the victim had attacked him earlier, but a witness stated Nelson’s attack lasted about a minute and the victim did not fight back. The FAA is investigating the incident, which is one of over 1,700 unruly passenger incidents reported this year.

  • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
    50·
    3 months ago

    Flight crew can’t arrest you, but they can restrain you until the plane lands and someone else can.

    Also, they probably weren’t fighting back because they were shielding themselves. I don’t know if you’ve even been in a fight, but it’s pretty hard to fight back when you’re sitting down and caught sleeping.

    • jaybone@lemmy.world
      17·
      3 months ago

      Yeah and in that enclosed space, it’s not like you can take a step back to assume a defensive posture from which you can actually engage in combat. If you’re standing in the aisle you can at least get some arm movement. Sitting turn you can probably barely get a soft jab in.