It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these: A United flight crew had to restrain an unruly female passenger with duct tape after she broke out of her restraints and started attacking other passengers.
The Associated Press is reporting that Maria Esther Castillo will appear in court tomorrow to answer charges of resisting arrest and endangering an aircraft (the United flight she was on, from Chicago to Puerto Rico, had to make an emergency landing in North Carolina).
Here’s what happened on the flight this past Saturday.
A few passengers reportedly noted Castillo drinking in the airport bar in Chicago before the flight. She bought another drink on board, after which flight attendants refused to serve her because of how she was acting.
Castillo, 45, became unruly and had to be restrained with ankle cuffs, which kept slipping off.
At one point, she got loose, smacked a flight attendant in the rear end and then climbed up and jumped on the head of a blind passenger and began to pull the person’s hair, her arrest complaint says.
Finally, the crew broke out the duct tape and bound her arms and legs. She calmed, but became more aggressive when the law came on board in Charlotte to arrest her.