An American Airlines flight attendant had to take matters into her own hands recently when a passenger became unruly on a flight from Los Angeles.
The unruly passenger, Juan Rivas, walked up to the cockpit area, took a napkin with plastic utensils and held the knife “like a shank” as he pointed it in the direction of a flight attendant. He also grabbed a small champagne bottle by the neck and tried to break it over a counter and kicked a service cart at into one of the other flight attendants.
That's when an unidentified flight attendant took action by grabbing a coffee pot and hitting him twice in the head with it. A passenger came to the attendant's aid by punching Rivas in the jaw, while another passenger grabbed him by the neck and pulled him to the floor. An off-duty pilot zip tied his hands and feet.
Rivas has been charged with assaulting and intimidating a flight attendant.