A crazed Southwest Airlines passenger who tried to open the aircraft’s door mid-flight before biting another passenger in the thigh claimed ‘Jesus told her to do it’.
Southwest Flight 192 was going from Houston to Columbus on Saturday when it was forced to make an emergency landing at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Elom Agbegninou, 34, became frustrated that flight attendants prevented her from getting to the emergency exit, a complaint in an Arkansas district court revealed.
When an other passenger intervened, Agbegninou bit them on the thigh and refused to disengage until her jaw was opened.
That victim, who was not identified in the complaint, was suffering from PTSD after the attack and treated with antibiotics in hospital.
‘They were rushing to the back of the plane to help. I was thinking about the worst case, probably that plane will crash, but I know it’s a very low probability,’ passenger Ding Yu told Fox 26.
Agbegninou appeared at court on Wednesday morning for a trial but her attorney expressed concerns that it could not proceed due to her mental state, according to court document.
The complaint provides an account of the events leading up to the plane’s emergency landing in Little Rock on the evening of November 26 – during the busy Thanksgiving weekend.
The harrowing episode began when Agbegninou went to the back of the plane and started ‘staring’ at the exit door.
A flight attendant then told the woman to either use the bathroom or sit down. Another attendant said Agbegninou then asked them both if she was allowed to look out the window.
When she was denied, she forced her way past one flight attendant and began to pull the handle of the exit door, while the plane was at 37,000 feet.
When a fellow passenger intervened by tackling Agbegninou, she bit them on the thigh and did not release, forcing the passenger to pry her jaw from their leg.
The crazed woman then started whacking her head on the plane floor, claiming ‘Jesus told her to fly to Ohio and Jesus told her to open the door’.
The victim of the bite was treated at a nearby hospital with antibiotics and hepatitis shots and now has PTSD and anxiety.
Agbegninou has since claimed it was the first time she had flown in a while, and traveled without her husband.
She claimed in court documents that she was ‘very anxious’ at the time of her episode, and ‘would not normally have done these things.’
Agbeninou will likely face charges of assault and interference with a plane crew.
