Man disrupted flight, bit official, FBI says

A passenger aboard a Hawaiian Airlines flight from New York assaulted a flight attendant Tuesday and bit one of two Federal Air Marshal Service deputies who restrained him, according to an FBI affidavit.

Agents arrested Ricardo Alverez Caceres when the airplane landed in Hono­lulu.

Caceres is charged with interfering with the flight attendant and assaulting the air marshal deputy.

He appeared in U.S. District Court on Wednesday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi allowed Caceres to be released on $15,000 signature bond and ordered him to turn in his Mexican-issued passport.

Caceres is scheduled to return to court March 20.

The affidavit said that about 7 1⁄2 hours into the 11-hour flight, two flight attendants and another passenger escorted Caceres to the back of the plane after Caceres had called another passenger names.

One of the deputy air marshals told the FBI he saw Caceres throw water and spit food at the flight attendants as they were trying to calm him. The deputy said he also heard Caceres say he had taken Xanax, Ambien and vodka.

Caceres continued to disrupt the flight crew and, about 50 minutes later, pushed a flight attendant against the lavatory doors at the back of the aircraft, the FBI said. As flight crew members tried to restrain him, he reached into his backpack, emptied a bottle of pills into his hand and attempted to put them in his mouth.

The deputy air marshal stopped him and placed him in handcuffs with the help of a second deputy. As the deputies were doing this, Caceres bit the first deputy on the leg, the FBI said.