By Joe Sutton, Sonnet Swire and Amir Vera, CNN
An American Airlines flight was diverted to Kansas City International Airport in Missouri on Sunday afternoon because of “an unruly passenger,” the airline said in a statement.
“American Airlines flight 1775 with service from Los Angeles (LAX) to Washington, D.C. (DCA) diverted to Kansas City (MCI) due to an unruly passenger,” the statement, provided to CNN, said.
“The flight landed safely at MCI at 2:28 p.m. local time, and law enforcement was requested to meet the flight on arrival,” it added. “We’re grateful to our crew members, who are consistently dedicated to the safety and care of our customers and who handled the circumstances with the utmost skill and professionalism.”
Kansas City Aviation Department spokesperson Joe McBride told CNN there was a “passenger interfering with the flight crew,” adding the incident will be under the jurisdiction of the FBI.
The FBI confirmed the incident in a statement to CNN, adding the individual in question had been taken into custody.
The passenger, a 50-year-old man, has been charged with one count of assaulting and intimidating a flight attendant and thereby interfering in the performance of the flight attendant’s duties, according to a US Justice Department news release.
The man will remain in federal custody until a detention hearing is scheduled, the release said.
Flight attendants and passengers subdued passenger
The man, who is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and 240 pounds, told flight attendants “people were attempting to hurt him and they followed him on the plane,” according to an affidavit of the incident.
The man went on to tell flight attendants “he heard the individuals harming his family over the telephone,” the affidavit said. When asked what the individuals looked like, the passenger told flight attendants one was sitting next to him on the plane and another had a knife.
A flight attendant took the…