A man has been charged for viciously assaulting a deaf, non-verbal passenger in an unprovoked attack midway through a flight.
Everett Chad Nelson, 44, is charged with assault by beating, striking or wounding following the alleged incident on a Virginia-bound flight from San Francisco.
Nelson is accused of leaving his victim, an unnamed passenger who was both deaf and non-verbal, with blood pouring from a gash on his nose and with bruising around both eyes.
The incident allegedly occurred as Nelson made his way back to his seat from the restroom.
He is alleged to have stopped at 12F, where the victim was sleeping, and began attacking him unprovoked.
Everett Chad Nelson, 44, is charged with assault by beating, striking or wounding following the alleged incident on a Virginia-bound flight from San Francisco
A court filing states the alleged victim woke up screaming. Blood was spattered across the seat and window, as well as on Nelson’s coat.
Sandhya Gupta, who was sitting a row behind the victim and witnessed the alleged assault, told ABC 7 News she heard ‘blood-curdling screams.’
‘He was just very violently and very aggressively pummeling the guy who was in the window seat who was in front of me and it was vicious,’ she said.
‘When he was trying to communicate with us in sign language, that’s when we realized he was deaf and non-verbal.’
United Airlines said in a statement there was a ‘disturbance’ on board which was managed by crew and passengers
Sandhya Gupta, who was sitting a row behind the victim and witnessed the alleged assault, told said she heard ‘blood-curdling screams’
A Good Samaritan intervened and ripped Nelson off the distressed victim. The victim allegedly communicated with staff by typing on his phone.
According to Gupta, the messages repeatedly read ‘I’m so scared.’
It is unclear what prompted the incident.
United Airlines said in a statement there was a ‘disturbance’ on board which was managed by crew and passengers.
‘One passenger was restrained after becoming physically aggressive toward another customer on a flight from San Francisco to Washington Dulles on Monday,’ a United spokesperson said in a statement.
‘The flight landed safely and was met by paramedics and local law enforcement.’