Flight Diverted After Passenger Attacks Teens With Fork

A man from India stabbed two teenagers with a fork, slapped a female passenger and a crew member, and mimicked shooting himself during an international flight, authorities said. The flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany on Saturday was diverted to Boston, where the 28-year-old man was arrested and charged with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, reports the AP. The US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts said Praneeth Kumar Usiripalli used a metal fork to attack the teens during meal service around two hours after the flight departed, the New York Times reports.

According to the US Attorney's Office, a 17-year-old passenger awoke to find the man standing over him. The man stabbed at the teen's clavicle with a fork and then stabbed another 17-year-old boy in the head, causing a laceration. The first teen, who wasn't injured because he was wearing a thick sweatshirt, told investigators he had exchanged pleasantries with the man seated next to him during boarding but otherwise had not interacted with him, according to the criminal complaint.

Lufthansa said the passengers spent the night in hotels and were booked on the next available flights from Boston to Germany, the Times reports. Usiripalli, who entered the US on a student visa, doesn't have lawful immigration status, authorities said. If convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm while traveling on an aircraft under US jurisdiction, he faces up to 10 years in prison.