On Thursday, June 13th, Delta flight DL500 flying from Indianapolis to Paris had to divert to Detriot due to an "unruly passenger". Occurring just after 6pm local time, Ian Robert James Morin reportedly began to yell and act erratically. This includes hitting a flight attendant in the throat with an open hand.

According to the complaint, the flight crew made attempts to calm Morin down. However, he continued to shout, refusing to comply with crew demands. It was after this that Morin then allegedly hit a flight attendant in the throat with his open hand. After that, the complaint states that he made a second attempt to strike the attendant. Subsequently, Morin vomited onboard the aircraft.

The passenger

Speaking with USA TODAY, Lisa Gass of Michigan's Wayne County Airport Authority, confirmed via email that “On Thursday evening, a Delta flight from Indianapolis to Paris was diverted to Detroit Metropolitan Airport due to a disruptive passenger," adding that "security personnel on board were able to restrain the man until the aircraft landed. The man was taken into custody. The investigation was turned over to the FBI.”

Morin is a resident of Carmel, a northern Indianapolis suburb. Appearing in Detroit federal court yesterday, a U.S. Attorney spokeswoman via The Indianapolis Star, reports that he is out on bond.

The flight aftermath

Upon diversion and arrest of the suspect, Delta put all other passengers in hotels for the night, resuming the eight-hour flight to Paris on Friday morning.

Details of the flight in question. Photo: FlightRadar24.com

Below is a statement from Delta corporate communications:

"We apologize for the delay and inconvenience of our customers on Flight 500, Indianapolis to Paris. As a matter of safety, the flight was diverted to Detroit to remove an unruly passenger. The remaining customers were put in hotels overnight and continued to Charles de Gaulle airport Friday morning, landing approximately 15 hours past schedule." -Lisa Hellerstedt, Corporate Communications, Delta Air Lines

Details of the flight in question. Photo: FlightRadar24.com

The actual aircraft involved - N172DZ - was a Boeing 767-300. It was rescheduled as DL18 and flew from Detroit to London.

It should be safe to assume that the vomit-area had a good cleaning before resuming flights...

Delta in other news

Delta has been in the press a number of times recently - both good and bad. Last week, Delta came to the rescue when a group of 41 fifth grade school students found that their flight to Washington had been cancelled by American Airlines. A great amount of positive publicity arose from the situation.

And even though the event took place in 2017, it was only in late May when news broke of a passenger suing the airline and another passenger for a vicious attack involving an emotional support dog. In fact, Delta is facing accusations of allowing the animal onboard without verification of adequate animal training and failing to warn guests of the dangers of unsecured animals onboard its airplane, among other claims.

767 Delta
The 767 is widely used in the US. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Conclusion

It seems as though Delta did everything right in this situation. With an unruly and visibly violent passenger aboard, the diversion was necessary to ensure the safety of the crew and other passengers. Furthermore, Delta took care of the affected passengers by placing them in hotels overnight and flying them out as soon as possible.