French Delta Air Lines Passenger Arrested for Assault

A Frenchman was arrested and charged with assault on January 8 after getting into a brawl on a Delta Air Lines flight from Nice, France to New York. Franck Lebrun, 34, made things on the flight tense, says a US District Court complaint.

The Delta crew suspected that someone was smoking cigarettes in one of the loos while they were in the air. Other passengers pointed the finger at Lebrun, so the attendants confronted him. After going to the bathroom again, they confronted him a second time. The complaint said that he smelled of cigarettes and looked intoxicated.

After the second time, Lebrun approached a stewardess aggressively and pushed her away. He pushed her again when she told him not to touch her. There were more tense moments, and then a federal air marshal identified himself to the passenger and told him to sit back down.

As the Frenchman walked toward the rear of the aircraft, he shouted and waived his arms excitedly. There were two other air marshals on the flight that identified themselves and asked Lebrun to show them his passport. However, he just continued yelling curses and then aggressively got into a fighting stance toward one of the marshals, but they handcuffed him and put him in the back of the plane. He continued yelling and became more agitated, flailing his arms and legs.

The filing revealed that, after Lebrun was detained, the crew found a 1-liter bottle of Bailey’s in his carry-on that was nearly empty. He has been charged with interfering with a flight crew and was released on a $10,000 bond. He is due to appear in court on January 24.