Passenger arrested for fighting on flight

The man was ordered to disembark after he allegedly ignored requests from flight attendants and other passengers to turn off his smartphone as the aircraft taxied to a runway.

Kealing, who witnesses said appeared to be drunk, didn’t comply and became hostile – so the plane went back to the gate to kick him off the flight. A situation on a plane spun out of control when the man punched a fellow passenger and a police officer because he didn’t want to turn off his phone before takeoff. He looked at him and said, ‘Really?’ Then [Kealing] punched him. The Chicago police were right on the spot. The guy was seat-belted in, so he couldn’t get out. “He was fighting the police and resisting them”, the author of the video told WLS-TV.

Flight times from Chicago to Dayton average about 75 minutes.

Kealing, of Austin, Texas, was hospitalized for an unrelated health condition and later booked for misdemeanor battery and three counts of resisting arrest, police said.

Kealing was due in court later this month, according to Police Officer Ana Pacheco, a Chicago Police Department spokeswoman.