A man who felt evil’s presence on an American Airlines flight attacked flight attendants and swallowed rosary beads before he was subdued and jailed in Savannah, Ga., authorities said.
Delange Augustin, 31, was arrested Monday night after a mid-air outburst aboard American Airlines Flight 4162 from Savannah to Miami, local CBS affiliate WTOC reported.
Augustin’s sister, Medjina Augustin, told investigators they were traveling from Savannah to Haiti while fleeing “religious attacks of a spiritual nature,” according to charging documents obtained by WTOC.
Less than one minute after the flight took off, Augustin began yelling and shaking in his seat, witnesses told police. When a flight attendant came to check on him, Augustin turned and kicked the crew member across the aisle, according to charging docs.
Pilots heard the commotion and turned the flight around back to Savannah, police said. When the flight approached its initial gate, Augustin again attacked crew members but was subdued by passengers and arrested by airport police, cops said.
Augustin had told his sister that “Satan’s disciple(s) had followed them onto the plane and the legion did not want the Augustins to make it to Haiti,” according to police. Medjina Augustin told the FBI she “had never experienced as much darkness as was on the plane that evening.”
First responders initially took Augustin to the hospital because he swallowed rosary beads — “a weapon of strength in the spiritual warfare,” according to Medjina Augustin — and he was then taken to local jail in Savannah.
The flight eventually took off and arrived in Miami nearly three hours behind schedule, according to flight-tracking data. Augustin was charged with felony property damage, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor obstruction of police.