Bond Set At $1 Million For Passenger Who Disrupted Flight
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Bond was set at $1 million on Tuesday for a United Airlines passenger who authorities say caused a disturbance on Chicago-to-Germany flight last week.
The flight wound up making an emergency stop in Cleveland. As CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports, Saleh Ali Alramakh, 21, appeared in a Cleveland courtroom on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to seven counts of aggravated menacing.
Alramakh, who's from Akron, is also facing a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew. Bond for that charge was set at $25,000 on Tuesday.
United Airlines Flight 944 made an unscheduled stop at Hopkins' International Airport in Cleveland Friday.
Fellow passengers -- who returned to O'Hare International Airport and flew out the next day -- said flight attendants couldn't get Alramakh out of the bathroom and off his phone.
The situation escalated from there.
"There was a lot of commotion, flight attendants running up the aisles and back, grabbing him, grabbing myself, asking for help," said passenger Adam Galbreath.
"He pushed one of the flight attendants and a very large man came up from behind him , got him in a choke hold - got him to the ground," said another passenger, Ron Anfuso.
Passengers snapped photos of Alramakh, restrained and lying in the aisle with duct tape over his mouth, to keep him from screaming and spitting. The FBI boarded the flight and led him off in handcuffs. Alramakh is a native of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
