Passenger Allegedly Swallowed Rosary Beads and Attacked Crew Members During Mid-Flight Meltdown

Mar. 15, 2025

Getty; United States District Court

According to the documents, Delange’s sister, Medjina Augustin, said the siblings’ end destination was Haiti and that they were trying to “flee religious attacks of a spiritual nature.”

Stock image of a person holding a rosary.Getty

Getty

Medjina allegedly claimed her brother told her to “close her eyes and pray because Satan’s disciple(s) had followed them onto the plane and the legion did not want the Augustins to make it to Haiti,” per the documents.

She also noted that her brother swallowed rosary beads during the flight “because they are a weapon of strength in the spiritual warfare,” according to the filing.

United States District Court

A flight attendant allegedly first thought Delange was having a “fit of epilepsy” as he was stomping, yelling and shaking, according to the accounts of eyewitnesses included in the document.

When another flight attendant went to check on him, he allegedly kicked the crew member in the chest, sending them “across the aisle, across the row of seats, and into the far window.”

The attendants say it was at this moment they realized he was not having a medical emergency, as his “choices appeared purposeful, though difficult to describe."

American Airlines plane.Joan Valls/Urbanandsport /NurPhoto via Getty

Joan Valls/Urbanandsport /NurPhoto via Getty

Delange, who was traveling with his sister, then allegedly started kicking the seat in front of him and continued to do so even after the passenger sitting there had moved and the chair collapsed.

According to the document, the pilots heard what was happening from the closed cockpit and made the decision to turn around and land back in Savannah. The pilots’ announcement allegedly calmed the unruly passenger until they made it safely back to Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport.

However, after the plane landed, Delange allegedly “stormed to the front” before the flight attendant could open the boarding door. He was “clutching his sister” as he made his way, then directed multiple punches at the flight attendant, one of which hit her upper arm, according to the documents.

Three other passengers then pulled him and his sister to the ground before Airport Police arrived at the scene and subdued him, the filing states. He was taken to the hospital for evaluation and for “the ingestion of rosary beads” before being discharged to the Chatham County Detention Center.

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source: people.com