A Lufthansa jumbojet made an emergency diversion after an unruly passenger went berserk and stabbed two kids before being subdued by flight attendants around two and a half hours into a flight from Chicago to Frankfurt last Saturday.
According to the US Attorney’s Office, 28-year-old Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli is accused of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm – an offense that carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in a federal prison, plus a $250,000 fine.
Usiripalli was a passenger on Lufthansa flight LH-431, which departed Chicago O’Hare at around 5 pm on October 25 for what should have been a routine eight-hour flight across the Atlantic to Frankfurt.
Instead, the pilots of the Boeing 747 jumbojet were forced to make an emergency diversion just as the plane was passing over a remote region of Canada, and headed towards Boston, where law enforcement was put on standby.
On board the aircraft, prosecutors allege that Usiripalli had gone on the rampage, attacking two innocent kids with a metal fork and attempting to attack other passengers and aircrew.
According to an affidavit filed by the FBI in a Massachusetts District Court, Usiripalli was sitting in an aisle seat towards the very back of the aircraft when he got up from his seat and stood over a 17-year-old boy who was sitting in the seat across the aisle from him.
The boy was attempting to sleep, but awoke to find Usiripalli towering over him. Without warning, Usiripalli struck the boy in the collarbone with a metal fork. He then lunged across his first victim and struck a second teenager sitting in the next seat, along with the fork – this time in the back of the head.
Usiripalli was screaming incoherently as passengers and flight attendants rushed to subdue him. As they struggled to restrain him, Usiripalli reached between his legs and then raised his hand, forming a gun with his fingers, putting it in his mouth, and pulling the imaginary trigger.
Usiripalli then managed to slap a woman sitting nearby and strike a flight attendant across the face before flight attendants were able to get him into handcuffs.
Thankfully, the first victim didn’t sustain any injuries because he was wearing a thick jumper, but the second victim suffered a laceration to the back of his head.
Usiripalli is from India and had been in the United States on a student visa. However, at the time of the incident, he did not have any lawful status in the US.
As soon as the plane landed at Boston Logan Airport, Usiripalli was taken into custody, where he remains.
