A flight attendant subdued a violent passenger by smashing a wine bottle over his head, and hitting him with another one on a flight from Seattle to Beijing.

23 yr old Joseph Hudek of Florida lunged for an exit door out of the plane mid-flight and fought with passengers, causing the Delta airline flight to return to Sea-Tac International Airport.

According to SBS:

“About an hour into the flight, while the plane was over the Pacific Ocean northwest of Vancouver Island, Hudek went into the forward restroom. He came out quickly, asked the attendant a question, and went back in, the agent wrote.

When he came out again two minutes later, he suddenly lunged for the exit door, grabbed the handle and tried to open it, Highley wrote. Two attendants grabbed him, but he pushed them away, and the attendants signaled for help from several passengers and notified the cockpit by telephone, the complaint said.

Hudek punched one flight attendant twice in the face and struck at least one passenger in the head with a red dessert wine bottle, it said. As the struggle continued, a flight attendant grabbed two wine bottles and hit Hudek over the head with each – breaking at least one of them, Highley wrote.”

A flight attendant who witnessed it said “Hudek did not seem affected by the breaking of a full one litre red wine bottle over his head, and instead shouted, ‘Do you know who I am?’ or something to that extent.”

Why is this relevant? As the person who posted this on social media said, it’s a sign of the times. I have a feeling we’re going to see people lash out and break the awkward silence pervading the air in public spaces more often.

You can feel the awkwardness and lack of connection with each other in the air when you go to an airport or out in public nowadays. It’s noticeably worse than it was say 10 or 20 years ago.

You can feel the tension building in people working jobs they don’t like and the fragility of their peace of mind. Maybe that’s too much to derive from this little story, but it’s true.

(Image credit: SBS)