A Delta Air Lines flight made an unscheduled landing in Oklahoma City Thursday night after a passenger allegedly assaulted a flight attendant and an air marshal, police said. The suspect was taken into custody.
The plane took off from Washington Reagan National Airport and was en route to Los Angeles International Airport when it was forced to land in Oklahoma at 9:35 p.m. local time. According to the Transportation Security Administration, the passenger appeared to be intoxicated and became a “security concern.”
“Federal Air Marshals assigned to the flight intervened to protect the safety and security of the flight crew and passengers,” the TSA said in a statement Friday.
The air marshal was able to detain the suspect, identified by police as 36-year-old Ariel Pennington, and police helped to remove him from the plane. Pennington was taken to the Oklahoma County Detention Center and held on complaints of disorderly conduct and public drunkenness, police said.
The air marshal did not need medical assistance, the TSA said. It is not clear whether the flight attendant was injured.
The flight then continued to Los Angeles.
Delta issued a statement saying it “applauds the quick action and professionalism of the crew and Federal Air Marshals” and apologizes to its customers for the inconvenience.
The FBI is investigating the incident. TSA spokesperson David Pekoske tweeted that the agency “does not tolerate any behavior that risks the security of a commercial airliner” and is also working with federal and local officials.
Delta is no stranger to unruly passengers: As of September, it had banned more than 1,600 for refusing to comply with face mask mandates.
It’s also part of a nationwide trend. Earlier this week, the Federal Aviation Administration said it had received more than 5,553 reports of unruly passengers in 2021.
