Drunken Passenger Assaults Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant, Plane Diverted

Some people may have been delayed on their journeys home for the holidays Friday night, as a flight from Nashville, Tennessee to Tampa, Florida was diverted due to an unruly passenger. A “highly intoxicated” white male passenger on the Southwest Airlines flight was responsible for the ruckus, as he assaulted a flight attendant. The plane had to land in Birmingham, Alabama to deal with the situation, AL.com reported.

The unidentified passenger reportedly got physical with a flight attendant on the flight to Tampa, but the attendant was not injured. His fellow passengers subdued him as the plane made a temporary detour to Birmingham Shuttlesworth International AIrport around 6 p.m. Friday, at which point he refused to leave the plane despite orders from the police. After a struggle, they managed to get him off the plane and hit him with a charge of resisting arrest. According to AL.com, the flight attendant did not indicate whether or not they would press charges.

None of the other passengers or officers involved suffered any injuries in the affair and the plane eventually made it to Tampa later that night. This was only the latest airline incident this holiday season, as a drunken man reportedly groped several women on a United Airlines flight out of Newark Liberty International Airport Friday. One of the women took to Twitter to note the lack of “coordinated response” by the airline.