A man was taken to a hospital for a psychological evaluation after he allegedly bit and hit passengers on board a Delta Airlines flight.
Shortly after Delta Flight 501 from Atlanta landed at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday afternoon, staff reported a man was restrained on board for biting a passenger and hitting others, CNN reports.
The Los Angeles Fire Department responded, taking the man to a hospital for a psychological evaluation before returning to treat the passenger he injured.
The man, whose current state is unknown, could face both civil and criminal penalties. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
“Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior and will work with law enforcement authorities,” Delta spokesperson Samantha Facteau said in a statement.
Delta has since been in touch with customers to offer support.
The Independent has contacted the Los Angeles Fire Department for more information.
There have been 311 reports of unruly passengers so far this year, according to the FAA.
Unruly passenger reports hit a record high of nearly 6,000 in 2021, growing 492 percent from the previous year as airline travel bounced back during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 4,000 of these incidents were related to masking, Reuters reported.
Those figures leveled out over the next three years, with 2,455 reports in 2022 and just over 2,000 reports in both 2023 and 2024.
But unruly passengers are still more common than they were before the pandemic, with the FAA reporting 1,009 unruly passengers in 2019 and 1,161 in 2018.
“The rate of unruly passenger incidents steadily dropped by over 80 percent since record highs in early 2021, but recent increases show there remains more work to do,” the FAA said in a statement on their website.
Unruly passengers can face jail time, fines up to $37,000 and travel restrictions.
Criminal charges are also possible.
“The FAA has civil authority, allowing it to impose fines,” the FAA states. “It does not have criminal prosecutorial authority, although passengers who engage in unruly behavior can still be prosecuted on criminal charges.”
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