A Spirit Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Detroit was forced to make an emergency landing in Des Moines after a passenger was pummeled when he complained that his fellow fliers were making too much noise while he was trying to sleep, according to reports.
Flight 709 made the unscheduled stop in Iowa on Thursday after the fight, which left the passenger badly beaten, according to clickondetroit.com.
“We were in shock, really. We couldn’t believe it was happening,” a woman aboard told the news outlet. “It was really scary. I had my kids with me and everybody was like, ‘Oh my God!’”
The woman said passengers called on flight attendants to end the fisticuffs.
“Everyone was like, ‘Why aren’t you doing anything?’ They were like, ‘We don’t get paid enough to deal with this,’” the woman recalled.
After the plane landed in Des Moines, the attackers changed out of their bloody clothing.
“They went and changed their clothes before the marshals came,” she said. “They hurried up and ran to the bathroom because they had blood all over their clothes and they didn’t want to be recognized.”
Passengers were shocked that the people involved in the fracas were allowed to board the flight after the two-hour delay, the outlet reported.
Police Sgt. Paul Parizek said one passenger was escorted off the plane, KETV reported.
“We did not arrest anyone. Pretty unique situation. It was determined that the incident took place over Nebraska, so DMPD has no jurisdiction. At the crew’s request, we escorted one passenger off the plane, and it continued on to Detroit,” he said.
“He was free to go. It appears that he was the victim of the assault but initiated the dispute on the flight. It started because he wanted to sleep and he protested other people, including a flight attendant, for talking too loudly,” Parizek added.
The woman who witnessed the flight said she also was shocked that the flight was packed after Spirit told her it would distance passengers amid coronavirus concerns.
“They didn’t clean the blood,” she said. “Sat there for two hours, everyone sucking everyone’s coronavirus.”
Spirit said in a statement to The Post that it “does not tolerate any type of physical altercation on board our aircraft and appropriate action will be taken. We thank the law enforcement officers in Des Moines for their assistance upon arrival.”
Airline spokesman Erik Hofmeyer also denied the allegation that flight attendants stood idly by, saying they tried to “de-escalate” the situation before it became too dangerous for them.
He also said the crew used onboard decontamination kits to clean the area after the fight.
Hofmeyer added that the flight was not full and that middle seats would have been left empty to promote social distancing. The airline also makes it mandatory for passengers to wear protective masks.