A California man is facing up to 20 years in prison after he allegedly assaulted a female flight attendant aboard an American Airlines flight last week.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Monday that Brian Hsu, 20, has been charged with interference with a flight crew and assault within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States. The incident occurred on Oct. 27 aboard American Airlines Flight 976, which was headed from New York’s JFK airport to Orange County, California, but was forced to divert to Denver, Colorado.
“After a flight attendant, who was working in a different cabin, bumped this passenger, we’re told, she then walked into one of the flight galleys and this passenger approached her and punched her in the face at least twice,” Paul Hartshorn Jr. of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants told CBS Los Angeles after the incident. “That’s what we know right now and she sustained broken bones in her nose and her face.”
Meanwhile, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker called the alleged attack “one of the worst cases of unruly behavior” the airline has ever witnessed.
“This type of behavior has to stop,” Parker said. “And the best deterrent is aggressive criminal prosecution.”
Hsu is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in a federal courtroom in Southern California.
