Indian-origin man arrested for mid-air assault on US domestic flight

An Indian-origin man from New Jersey was arrested after an allegedly unprovoked attack on another passenger in a violent mid-air altercation on a Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami on June 30.

A video that went viral shows 21-year-old Ishaan Sharma and Keanu Evans trying to get hold of each other’s necks while other passengers are telling them to stop fighting.

The video also shows both of them exchanging blows as other passengers and a flight attendant tried to break up the fight.

‘Unprovoked’

Evans reportedly told the police that the attack by Sharma was unprovoked.

“He was doing some dark laugh, like, ha ha ha ha. And he was saying things like ‘You puny, mortal man, if you challenge me, it will result in your death,” Evans later told 7News.

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Evans said he then went to use the restroom, and informed the flight attendants about what had just happened. They told him to press the assistance button if he needed help.

‘Threatened with death’

Evans said he returned to his seat and then pressed the assistance button when Sharma “kept threatening him with death”.

Evans said Sharma kept staring at him angrily, “we’re looking eye-to-eye, forehead-to-forehead,” and then he said Sharma just grabbed him by the throat and started choking him.

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“At that moment, you know, the fight or flight response kicked in. I’m in a tight, confined space on an aircraft, and all I can do is just defend myself,” he said.

‘Took selfies’

The fight left Evans with some scratches on his face while Sharma had a cut above his left eyebrow.

Some of the flyers said Sharma returned to his seat grinning, and took selfies of his injured face before being handcuffed and escorted off the plane.

‘Was meditating’

When the plane landed, Ishaan Sharma was taken into custody and charged with battery.

During his court appearance on Tuesday (July 1), Sharma’s attorney reportedly told the judge that the incident occurred because his client was meditating.

A news outlet quoted the lawyer as saying that Sharma is from a religion where he was meditating, and unfortunately, the other passenger did not like it.

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The judge, however, set Sharma’s bond at $500, and issued a stay-away order that barred Sharma from getting in touch with Evans or going near his workplace or school.

Evans told 7News, “I don’t want people to get the wrong idea about who I am. I’m a good person. I recently got baptised. I just wish I had been more firm in asking to be moved away from him.”