(Updates with information from the Department of Justice)
Los Angeles, September 22 A passenger was charged Thursday with a federal charge of hitting a flight attendant on a flight from Mexico to Los Angeles, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) reported.
Alexander Tung Cuu Le, 33, from Southern California, was charged with interfering with a flight, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The attack was videotaped by a passenger and the footage shows the man, dressed in a floral shirt, hitting the flight attendant from behind, who was walking down the aisle.
The 30-second video posted on social media shows the flight attendant appearing to be talking to the attacker before turning his back on him. The man then approaches him, punches him in the head and backs away.
The crash occurred on American Airlines Flight 377 which took off from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to Los Angeles, the Justice Department said in a statement.
About 20 minutes after take off, Le got up from her seat and began interfering with the flight attendants’ work.
He then sat down in an empty corridor near the wall that divides the first class cabin and the main cabin of the plane. The flight attendant asked him to go back to his chair but threatened him. When the flight attendant turned to tell the pilot what was happening, she attacked him, hitting him in the back of the head.
The attacker ran to the back of the plane where he was stopped by other passengers and tied to a chair, the Justice Department said.
Prior to the attack, she whispered to him “There are 10 killers on the plane,” a passenger identified by the name of Kevin told ABC-7 television.
The attacker was arrested by police when the plane landed at Los Angeles airport Wednesday night.
American Airlines said in a statement that it will not tolerate violence against crew members.
“The person involved in this incident will never travel with us in the future and we will work closely with law enforcement in the investigation,” he said. EFE
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