Flight Diverted After Man Allegedly Punches Wife In The Face Mid-Air

An American Airlines flight to Toronto headed back to Chicago midflight Wednesday after a passenger allegedly assaulted his wife.

Airline spokeswoman confirmed to NBC Chicago that a “disruptive passenger” forced American Airlines flight 3284 from O’Hare International Airport to return to Chicago. Police, ambulances and fire department officials were waiting at the airport when the flight landed.

A co-passenger tweeted the man refused to get off the plane after it landed and all the passengers were deplaned. Citing a flight attendant, the co-passenger also said the woman was punched in the face.

Chicago police said a couple was arguing midflight which forced the plane to head back to Chicago. The couple was deplaned after the “small verbal argument,” the police said, adding there were no visible injuries on the woman.

The flight was delayed and re-departed for Toronto at 6:55 p.m. local time (7.55 p.m. EST). The couple was booked on a later flight.

“Still waiting & my fellow passengers & I just read the couple was booked on a later flight - presumably the 7pm one - while we all still wait here,” Christy Brissette, a co-passenger tweeted.

In a similar incident earlier this year, an American Airlines passenger was charged for attacking three crew members aboard the flight. The passenger was arrested soon after the flight landed at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina.

Charlene Sarieann Harriott, 36, was charged by the FBI for interfering with the crew members.

A criminal complaint stated that as the flight approached the airport, Harriott, who was seated at the rear, ran toward the cockpit. The incident took place when the crew was already on their seats to prepare for landing.

The attendants asked her to stop, but when she didn’t, they chased her down the aisle while the flight was touching down. They then restrained her using duct tape and zip ties as the flight landed but Harriott “became more aggressive and physically violent toward the flight crew.”

According to the complaint, the passenger bit an attendant on her forearm causing it to bleed. She then hit another attendant and also kicked a third attendant. As soon as the flight landed, the three attendants were sent to an onsite medical clinic.

She was taken into custody on three counts of assault and battery.

In another incident in June 2017, an unruly passenger was deplaned from a Boston-bound American Airlines plane and arrested at Denver International Airport after the flight was diverted. The passenger, who was reportedly drunk, became “very aggressive with the stewardess” and started cornering her.