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A flight headed for New Hampshire was diverted Wednesday after a man exposed himself and urinated in the aisle, officials said.
American Eagle flight 3921, which was on its way to Manchester, New Hampshire, after taking off in Chicago, was forced to divert to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
American Eagle is a brand name for the regional branch of American Airlines.
Shortly after landing, the 25-year-old man from Oregon was arrested and charged with indecent exposure.
He was released after making an initial appearance in federal court in Buffalo, according to a release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.
The Attorney’s Office did not release the name of the man.
The 25-year-old allegedly told officers he was flying from Portland, Oregon, to Manchester and had several whiskey and colas before boarding the flight, and then more of them during a layover in Chicago and after boarding there.
He said he got up to use the restroom and was coming back to his seat, but he has a medical urination problem, according to a criminal complaint.
The American Eagle flight departed from Buffalo shortly after the incident, American Airlines told The Independent.
“We thank our team members for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding,” the airline added.
Airline officials also said that a Delta flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was diverted to JFK Airport in New York on the same day after passengers were served spoiled food.
The redeye flight took off from Detroit around 11pm Tuesday and landed in New York at 4am “after reports that a portion of the Main Cabin in-flight meal service were spoiled,” a Delta spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport, said 14 of the plane’s 277 passengers were treated by medical personnel when the flight landed. Ten crew members were also treated. None required hospitalization.
It was not clear how many people ate the spoiled food, or how the food came to be spoiled. Delta said it would investigate the incident.
A similar incident occurred in May when 70 of the 290 passengers on board Condor airline Flight DE2315 fell ill while traveling from Mauritius to Frankfurt.
The plane was halfway through its journey to the German city when it became clear that many passengers were suffering from a bug, reporting symptoms including nausea and vomiting.
The aircraft landed in Frankfurt at around 5.33pm where it was greeted with a large contingent of emergency services after the crew had called ahead to alert officials on the ground of the unfolding emergency. The crew was not affected.
The cause of the sudden wave of illness was not confirmed. However, the airline noted that the food onboard would have been prepared in Mauritius.
