Police arrested a Delta Air Lines passenger in Atlanta headed to Los Angeles Friday morning after an apparent bloody flight while passengers boarded the flight.
Investigators said 30-year-old Curtis Maurice Clayton punched the man booked in the seat directly behind him. Delta flight 412 was scheduled to depart Atlanta at 7:15 a.m. to head to Los Angeles.
Clayton reacted when German Montez, 43, put something in the seatback pocket of his chair, witnesses told the Atlanta Police Department. The disagreement escalated when Clayton reportedly punched Montez, apparently leaving him with a bloody face, as seen in a video recorded by another passenger.
“Seriously?” another traveler asks, exclaiming how he’d already missed a different flight that morning.
Authorities said a passenger restrained Clayton until they arrived, but he continued to be “uncoorperative with police and damaged a police vehicle during the investigation,” according to a police statement.
Police charged Clayton for battery and damaging government property and booked him at the Clayton County Jail.
The plane took off roughly 30 minutes after its scheduled time.
FAA data released this week shows 4,941 reports of unruly passengers so far this year. Thee-fourths of those incidents were mask-related. The agency has already begun prosecuting hundreds of cases, some with fines up to $37,000 per violation.
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