A drunken Utah man head-butted a flight attendant on a Friday morning red-eye from Salt Lake City to Orlando, prompting the pilot to make an emergency landing in Oklahoma City, police there say.
Derek Edward Maas, 28, of Clearview, Utah, was arrested on a Delta Airlines plane early Friday morning by Oklahoma City police, The Oklahoman newspaper reported on its NewsOK.com website.
Officers interviewed a flight attendant who noticed Maas was intoxicated when he boarded the flight but did not appear to be dangerous. The attendant told his crew not to serve Maas alcohol during the flight. Maas later told police he “pre-gamed” with five shots of whiskey before the flight.
Maas reportedly got agitated when he wasn’t served alcohol during the flight’s drink service. The attendant agreed to let him buy two drinks, and Maas said he would go to sleep for the rest of the flight, the paper reported.
Maas drank his two drinks quickly, and demanded more, the police report said. That’s when he reportedly head-butted the flight attendant, who responded by striking him while several passengers worked to restrain him. The pilot decided to land the plane in Oklahoma City.
When the Oklahoma City police arrested Maas, they said his hands were restrained by zip cuffs, he was unsteady on his feet, his eyes were red and watery, and the smell of alcohol on his breath was “nearly overpowering.”
On the way to the Oklahoma County jail, where Maas was booked for public intoxication, he told officers that “he wished he was black so that we would just shoot him and he could film it and show the world about the unfairness,” the police report said.