A crazed passenger allegedly attacked a sleeping deaf man on a United Airlines redeye flight, leaving him so bloodied that he required medical attention. The motive for the attack is downright baffling.
Deaf Man Brutally Attacked By Florida Man As He Slept On United Airlines Redeye Flight
This is a strange case and a scary one considering how random the attacks appears to be.
- It occurred on United flight UA2246 from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), operated by a Boeing 737-900
- Everett Chad Nelson, 44, of Florida rose during the redeye flight to use the mid-cabin lavatory
- While returning to his seat in the rear of the plane, he purportedly attacked a random man who was sleeping
- That attack included savagely punching the sleeping man in the head and face
- Blood spattered everywhere, including on the seat, windows, and passengers around him
- Another passenger jumped in to help, pulling Nelson off the victim
Sandhya Gupta, a passenger onboard the flight who was seated one row behind the victim, told ABC 7 San Francisco:
“The next thing I know, I just hear these blood-curdling screams. He was very violently and very aggressively pummeling the guy who was in the window seat who was in front of me and it was vicious. This wasn’t like a bar room, I’m going to throw a couple of punches around, I mean this was vicious.”
The fact that he is deaf does not seem to have made a difference in terms why he was attacked…after all, he was sleeping. But it made a big difference while trying to communicate with flight attendants, and other passengers, and eventually the physician onboard that treated him. As Gupta explained, communication was ultimately conducted by text message when the man attempted to communicate in sign language:
“When he was trying to communicate with us in sign language that’s when we realized he was deaf and non-verbal. He also just kept texting, ‘I’m so scared.’ It was just awful!”
Nelson was restrained and moved to the front of the aircraft. The flight did not divert. During that time, Nelson alleged that the deaf man had attacked him on the street before the flight. The deaf men denied seeing Nelson before.
At Washington Dulles, he was arrested.
A United Airlines spokesperson confirmed the event:
“Thanks to the quick action of our crew and customers, one passenger was restrained after becoming physically aggressive toward another customer on a flight from San Francisco to Washington Dulles on Monday. The flight landed safely and was met by paramedics and local law enforcement.”
If found guilty, Nelson faces up to a year in prison as well as a civil lawsuit from the passenger.
CONCLUSION
Whether this was a case of mistaken identity or perhaps the effect of some sort of intoxication, it really does not matter: such behavior is vile and I hope that Nelson is held accountable for his action…you simply cannot attack another passenger on a plane. Period. Ever.
