Juan Rivas was escorted off the flight after being subdued by a flight attendant and other passengers.
An American Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing after an "unruly passenger" attempted to enter the cockpit area and open a flight door, among other things. Juan Remberto Rivas, 50, caused several disturbances on a Washington-bound flight on Sunday afternoon. Because of him, flight 1775 from Los Angeles was diverted mid-journey to Kansas City where it was met by law enforcement officials, news agency AFP reported.
Footage shared on Twitter by another passenger, Mouaz Moustafa, shows Mr Rivas being subdued by law enforcement officials. The video was taken after the flight was diverted to Kansas, where Mr Rivas was escorted off. "The man was bleeding as the police in this video are taking him off the flight after landing in Kansas," Mr Moustafa wrote.
According to Mr Moustafa, a flight attendant had to use a coffee pot to subdue the passenger after he began acting erratically. He told flight attendants "people were attempting to hurt him and they followed him on the plane," CNN reported.
Mr Rivas, who is currently in police custody, also "grabbed a small champagne bottle by the neck of the bottle and attempted to break the bottle on the counter. He began kicking and shoving the service cart into one of the flight attendants," according to a US Justice Department news release.
The release said he also tried to pull open the plane's exit door. In response, "a flight attendant grabbed a coffee pot and hit (the man) twice in the head with it," the release said. "Several passengers came forward to assist the flight attendants." He was eventually subdued and escorted off the flight after it landed.
According to KSHB-TV, Mr Rivas has been charged with one count of assaulting and intimidating a flight attendant.
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