MID-AIR MELTDOWN

American Airlines Passenger Accused of Assault Referenced Trump to FBI

Asterius Rulamka said he wanted to speak to the president after he allegedly attacked several people.

A Texas man arrested after a violent mid-air rampage on an American Airlines flight said he wanted to fly to Washington, D.C., to speak with President Donald Trump. Asterius Rulamka was flying from Wichita to Washington Reagan National Airport, the same American Airlines route as the jet involved in a deadly mid-air collision on Jan. 29, on March 5 when he told a flight attendant he was going “to f--- him up upon landing,” CBS News reported. Passengers began filming the incident, an FBI affidavit said. Rulamka is alleged to have approached one man who was filming and punched him several times. He allegedly tried to attack a second passenger who injured himself when dodging Rulamka. Three passengers and the flight attendants were able to restrain him after he “started running up and down the cabin” following the alleged assaults on American Eagle flight 5574. “Upon the flight’s arrival, the defendant [said] that he had come to D.C. to speak to President Trump,” the affidavit stated. “When asked why he wanted to speak to the President, he stated that he was ‘mad.’” Rulamka, who now faces a federal assault charge, is also the subject of a pending investigation into an alleged immigration violation in 2014.