Unruly airline passenger arrested

An airplane passenger was arrested Monday soon after his flight landed at the Saipan International Airport when he became unruly as the aircraft was descending in preparation for landing.

Taiji Sawada allegedly punched the plane’s window, kicked the seat in front of him, and assaulted a flight attendant

He was arrested for interfering with the performance of a flight attendant. He will have his initial court appearance hearing today, Thursday, in federal court.

U.S. District Court for the NMI judge William Hayes appointed attorney Mark Hanson to represent Sawada in the case.

FBI special agent Mary Goff stated in her report that Sawada was one of the passengers aboard Delta Flight 298. About 30 minutes before landing, Sawada, who was in the business class cabin, became angry with a female passenger and started punching the window and kicking the seat in front of him.

The report did not mention what made him angry and whether Sawada and the passenger were related.

The female flight attendant went over to Sawada and tried to calm him down.

The passenger tried to hold the defendant to keep him from punching the windows, but he continued to do so. That’s when the flight attendant notified the captain. It was decided to put physical restraints on Sawada and to move him to a different seat away from the window.

The attendant stated that during her encounter with him, Sawada kicked her several times.

After the physical restraints were put on, Sawada continued to kick and bang his head on the seat.

Right before landing, Sawada got out of his seat and stood up. The attendant rushed to him to put his seat belt back on.

The other flight attendant stated that she heard loud noises and bangs coming from the business class cabin. When the second flight attendant checked the business class cabin, she saw Sawada and the passenger struggling with each other.

The passenger had her arms wrapped around Sawada, while the defendant was kicking and yelling. The defendant was also throwing his body against the window.

The second flight attendant asked help from two male passengers who assisted the flight attendants to physically restrain Sawada.

Sawada was moved to a different seat. Flight attendants also had to move five passengers. They asked two male passengers to sit next to Sawada to watch him and moved elderly passengers away from him.