Delta Flight Attendant Smashed Wine Bottles Over Unruly Passenger's Head

When a first-class passenger seemingly lost his mind an hour into a trans-Pacific flight this past weekend, a Delta flight attendant was forced to make an unusual decision: pairing two bottles of light dessert wine with the back of Joseph Daniel Hudek IV's skull.

According to a criminal complaint, Delta Flight 129 was an hour into its flight from Seattle to Beijing when Hudek got out of his seat and walked into the front lavatory. He walked out, asked the flight attendant a question, then disappeared behind the folding door. When he finally emerged, Hudek allegedly "lunged toward the forward right exit door of the aircraft, grabbed the handle and attempted to open it."

The New York Times describes Hudek as "wrestling" with the door, as several passengers and flight attendants attempted to pull him away from the exit. Hudek punched a flight attendant before reaching for the wine bottles and hitting an as-yet-unidentified passenger with a red dessert wine. A flight attendant then did the same, cracking Hudek on the head with two other bottles of wine, breaking one in the process. "[Hudek] did not seem impacted by the breaking of a full liter red wine bottle over his head, and instead shouted, 'Do you know who I am?' or something to that extent," the complaint said.

"They broke two bottles of wine on his head," a rattled passenger told KIRO7. "I tried to choke him and he just threw me off like a rag doll." The flight crew and several other passengers eventually managed to subdue Hudek, binding his wrists with zip-ties as the flight was diverted back to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. A flight attendant and at least one passenger were both transported to a nearby hospital with facial injuries.

Hudak's behavior did not improve when he was handcuffed to a wheelchair in the airport. "He started yelling for help," passenger Dustin Jones told the station. "And so he turned the wheelchair over in the middle of the airport, screaming for people to help him, just being belligerent."

On Friday, Hudek appeared in federal court, where he faces charges of interfering with flight crew members, which could send him to prison for 20 years. Hudek had been flying on a "dependent pass," because his mother is a Delta employee, one who probably had an absolutely miserable day at work on Friday.

According to Delta's website, the dessert wine currently on offer on its flights is Chambers Rosewood Muscadelle, a non-vintage Australian wine that has flavors of dried figs and soy sauce, with "hints of mushrooms, roasted meat and maple syrup."

"Flight 129 returned to Seattle following a security incident with a passenger. The passenger was restrained onboard and was removed from the flight by law enforcement without further incident when the aircraft arrived back in Seattle. The flight re-departed for Beijing later," Delta spokesperson Anthony Black told MUNCHIES. Black declined to discuss the condition of the hospitalized flight attendant and also declined to comment on any potential charges against the passenger.