Delta Airlines Flight No. 1589 was temporarily delayed Sunday when the pilot abandoned takeoff after passengers became irate at a man who repeatedly struck his infant daughter, police say.
The aircraft, en route from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles about 3 p.m., taxied back to the gate when the crew became concerned about the potential of an in-air disturbance, a Salt Lake police report says.The problems started when passengers took exception to the man's behavior toward his 2-year-old daughter, the report says. The child and her parents, who were returning to California from a ski vacation at Deer Valley, were involuntarily removed from the flight.
The man, 50, of Lomita, Calif., told police his daughter wouldn't stop crying and, out of concern for surrounding passengers, he slapped the child once or twice, the report says. But witnesses said the man forcefully struck the child several times and gripped her head in a "strangle hold," according to the report.
The man roughly sat the girl in her seat, then "I turned and saw his hand over her mouth and nose shaking her roughly," reported a woman from Santa Monica, Calif.
Another witness told police the man shouted at passengers when they tried to intervene. She reported the man responded, "(Expletive) you, I'll handle my daughter the way I want, stay out of it," according to the report.
The man repeatedly apologized to police for his behavior and said the family was exhausted from the ski trip. The girl was returned to her parents and the family was rescheduled on a later flight, the report says. The incident remained under investigation.