Passenger charged with assault and facing jail for breaking flight attendants nose in first class row

A 20-year-old man has been charged by US prosecutors for allegedly assaulting a flight attendant and interfering with crew on an American Airlines flight last week.

Brian Hsu, a resident of Irvine, California, had been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Monday after which he appeared before US Magistrate Judge Autumn Spaeth in Santa Ana.

Mr Hsu was directed by the federal court to submit a mental health evaluation, appear for a hearing at another federal court in Denver on 15 November and released from custody on a $10,000 (£7,324) bond.

His lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment, reported Reuters.

The alleged attack had occurred on 27 October on American Airlines Flight 976, which was flying from the John F Kennedy airport in New York and was supposed to land at John Wayne Airport in California.

The incident had led to the flight being diverted to Denver.

According to the witnesses, Mr Hsu allegedly hit a flight attendant in the face, resulting in bleeding and concussion.

Four witnesses told the FBI in a statement that the flight attendant had told Mr Hsu to stay away from the plane’s bathroom, following which he had punched her in the face “with sufficient force to cause her to hit the lavatory door,” according to an affidavit from the federal agency.

The attendant told the FBI that she was speaking to another attendant in the “mid-galley of the airplane” when she was first struck.

When she turned around to see who struck her, she found the accused and asked him if he was alright. Without apologising, the accused told her that he needed to use the washroom.

She told the agency that she asked him to walk away from the bathroom as it was occupied and because the “fasten seatbelt” sign was on, he needed to go back to his seat.

“The male passenger raised his arms as though he were going to stretch” but instead struck his elbow on her head, prompting the attendant to take a “defensive posture with her arms out in front of her and her hands up”.

The FBI affidavit added that the passenger initially backed down but later charged her and "struck her in the face”.

Following the attack, the flight attendant felt dizzy and had to be taken away from the flight on a stretcher, reported Reuters.

The attendant was taken to a hospital, where doctors told her that she had suffered a concussion. She also told the FBI that she "currently has pain in her nose, head, and sinuses."

Mr Hsu told the agency that he was returning home to California after receiving brain surgery in Rhode Island. He said that he had accidentally bumped a flight attendant and claimed the attendant then “charged at him and hit her nose against the palm of his right hand.”

Calling the incident “one of the worst displays of unruly behaviour we’ve ever witnessed,” American Airlines chief executive Doug Parker said in a video posted on Instagram, that “this type of behaviour has to stop”.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had earlier pledged a “zero tolerance” approach for unruly behaviour, something that can invite a prison term of 20 years and fines as high as $52,500 (£38,472).

Strict punishment, however, has not deterred many passengers. The FAA said that by 25 October, it received nearly 5,000 reports of unruly behaviour mid flight since the beginning of the year.

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