A passenger was taken into custody after he assaulted a flight attendant and an air marshal on a Delta Airlines flight to Los Angeles from Washington DC. The flight continued on to its destination after it was diverted to Oklahoma City. An air marshal who was on board the aircraft had the passenger in custody when it landed Thursday night at Will Rogers World Airport, Oklahoma City Police Captain Arthur Gregory told TV station KFOR. In a statement, Delta praised the “quick action and professionalism” of its crew and air marshals for their handling of the situation. 

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It said the flight had to be diverted to Oklahoma City after the passenger became unruly and was removed from the flight by local law enforcement. “We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” Delta said.

The Delta flight later landed at Los Angeles International Airport just after 10:30 pm, ABC News reported.

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In September, Delta Air Lines asked other US carriers to share lists of passengers who have been banned owing to their unruly behavior. The Federal Aviation Administration recently issued more than $1 million in proposed fines for unruly passengers.

Last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland directed US attorneys across the country to prioritize prosecutions of federal crimes that occur on commercial flights amid a historic spike in cases involving unruly passengers.

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Federal law prohibits interfering with a flight crew, including assaulting, intimidating or threatening crew members.

The Federal Aviation Association said last month that it had referred 37 cases involving unruly airline passengers to the FBI for possible criminal prosecution since the number of disruptions on flights began to spike in January.

(With AP inputs)