Man charged with punching flight attendant on Dallas flight also allegedly kicked officer in the groin

DALLAS - The FBI said a man who attacked a flight attendant on a trip out of Dallas continued attacking law enforcement even after they yanked him off the plane.

The allegations surfaced in newly revealed court documents.

Keith Edward Fagiana faces charges of interfering with a flight crew and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He is scheduled to make his first federal court appearance Monday in Amarillo, which is where he was taken into custody after the flight was diverted there.

Keith Edward Fagiana

According to court records unsealed Friday, Fagiana told investigators he didn’t remember what happened.

Documents are revealing what led to the moment Wednesday when authorities in Amarillo pulled Fagiana off a flight from DFW Airport to Bozeman, Montana.

"My wife kind of started hitting me and saying, you know, getting me to pay attention that something was happening," J.P. Gallagher recalled.

Gallagher, an elected official in Montana, was on the flight returning from vacation in Mexico with his wife and daughter.

"There was a drink cart between us and the incident. So I couldn't see a lot what was going on, but I could hear some yelling and some, you know, cussing and, you know, the flight attendant saying, stop it," Gallagher said.

According to a criminal complaint, it started when another passenger complained Fagiana was kicking their chair.

When a flight attendant asked him to stop, authorities said "Fagiana then yelled expletives at the flight attendant and punched the flight attendant in the stomach," before "Fagiana got up and punched the flight attendant three more times."

The flight attendant and passengers were then able to restrain Fagiana and place flex cuffs on him.

Video taken by another passenger captured the confrontation with the flight attendant.

"Stop, stop, stop. What the (expletive) are you doing?" the flight attendant yelled at a man hitting him.

Related

article

Man arrested from diverted Dallas flight accused of assaulting flight attendant

An American Airlines passenger faces criminal charges after reportedly assaulting a flight attendant on a flight that departed from Dallas and was diverted to Amarillo.

"I was just paying attention to make sure that I didn't see or hear anything about a weapon. You know, that was probably the most concerning thing," Gallagher said.

The flight was diverted to Amarillo, where the FBI and local police were waiting.

Authorities said after they removed Fagiana, he "…complained to officers the flex cuffs were hurting him," and "…while changing out handcuffs, Fagiana kicked one of the Amarillo Airport Police Officers in the groin area and spit on escorting officers."

The FBI said Fagiana later claimed he didn’t remember anything that happened on the flight after drinking some Captain Morgans at bars in Las Vegas before the flight.

The union representing American’s flight attendants said in a statement: "…another Flight Attendant was assaulted by a customer. Our priority is to care for the affected crewmember. This violent behavior must stop."

Passengers said the crew acted professionally throughout the ordeal.

"It's sad, but you could tell that they had training and they were ready to respond to the incident that was going on," Gallagher said.

Airlines reported more than 2,000 incidents of unruly passengers to the Federal Aviation Administration. That is down from a peak of nearly 6,000 in 2021, when far fewer people were traveling because of the pandemic.

The FAA said airlines reported 45 attacks by passengers on flight attendants last year.

In one of the most serious cases, a California woman was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay nearly $26,000 in restitution for punching a Southwest Airlines flight attendant in the mouth and breaking her teeth.

The Associated Press contributed to this report