FBI agents arrested an American Airlines passenger after she allegedly attacked three crew members on a flight from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport as it prepared to land at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, according to published reports.
Charlene Sarieann Harriott, 36, faces charges for allegedly interfering with a crew member and attendants.
Harriott was seated in the last row of the plane when she allegedly made a run for the cockpit as the plane was touching down, according to reports. Flight attendants said they ordered her to stop, and when Harriott refused, they chased her down the aisle.
Harriott allegedly bit one attendant on the right forearm and punctured the skin. She also allegedly hit a second attendant on the right forearm, and kicked another attendant in the abdomen and leg.
Crew members eventually restrained Harriott with duct tape and zip ties in the first-class section of the aircraft, the International Business Times reported.
According to reports, Harriott was taken into custody shortly after the plane touched down. She was remanded to Mecklenburg County Jail, where she is being held on three counts of assault and battery. A hearing before a federal judge is slated for next week.
Similar incidents have been reported over the past several months.
In July, a United Airlines flight was forced to turn around after a passenger ran toward the cockpit about halfway through a 45-minute flight from Houston to New Orleans, KTRK-TV reported. The passenger repeatedly hit the walls of the plane and yelled, “We are all protected and loved! This plane is going to land beautifully and kindly!”
In May, two fighter jets escorted an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Hawaii after flight attendants and passengers subdued an unruly passenger by using a drink cart to stop him from reaching the cockpit, according to the Chicago Tribune.
