Flight diverted after irate passenger has meltdown

Flight originated in Houston

HOUSTON – A flight from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Minneapolis had to be diverted after a passenger went berserk during the flight.

The Spirit Airlines plane landed in Rochester, Minnesota, where the woman was escorted off the plane.

KPRC talked with another passenger on board the flight who recorded the incident on her phone.

Chianti Washington was in tears, even hours later.

"Just to be in that confined space when someone that is going through something very traumatic in their life and there's nothing you can do," Washington told KPRC. "There's nowhere you can go."

Washington said the incident left many passengers visibly shaken.

"You never know," she said. "They can have a breaking point at any moment and, you know, there are children on this flight and it just made me think of my 11-year-old son."

Read more about the incident on KPRC's website.


About the Authors:

Julie Moreno has worked in local television news for more than 25 years. She came to KSAT as a news producer in 2000. After producing thousands of newscasts, she transitioned to the digital team in 2015. She writes on a wide variety of topics from breaking news to trending stories and manages KSAT’s daily digital content strategy.