A Virginia man on an airplane bound for Florida attacked a fellow passenger, fought with the flight crew and tried to exit the plane mid-flight before he was subdued, authorities said on Monday.
Joseph Sharkey, 36, of Reston, Virginia, faces a federal charge of assault or intimidation of a flight crew, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, according to a statement released Monday by U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III.
Sharkey was on a Jet Blue flight from Washington, D.C., to Jacksonville, Florida, on Sunday when he put a fellow passenger into a headlock, the statement said.
When a flight attendant ordered him back to his seat, he assaulted the flight attendant and tried to leave the plane through an exit door, Bentley said.
Sharkey then kneed another flight attendant in the groin, and was eventually subdued and put into flexicuffs by flight attendants and volunteers on the plane, Bentley said.
The plane landed safely in Jacksonville, and Sharkey was escorted off the plane by local police, Bentley said. He remained in police custody on Monday, the statement said.