OKLAHOMA CITY – An overnight flight from Salt Lake City to Orlando was diverted at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City due to an unruly passenger, KFOR reported Friday.
According to an arrest affidavit, the Delta flight crew noticed that 28-year-old Derek Maas appeared to be intoxicated when he got on the flight in Salt Lake City.
At that point, the crew determined that Maas shouldn’t be served any alcoholic drinks on the flight.
When Maas realized that he wasn’t going to get alcoholic beverages, he became agitated.
Maas convinced one employee that if he could purchase two drinks that he would go to sleep for the rest of the flight.
“Unfortunately, the two drinks that Maas consumed very quickly seemed to embolden rather than mollify him. He demanded more alcohol and [employees] refused to serve him,” the report states.
Derek Maas
At that point, witnesses say Maas began calling the flight crew derogatory names and even head-butted one employee.
That is when the plane was diverted to Oklahoma City.
Once at Will Rogers World Airport, Maas was taken into custody.
“Maas was very unsteady on his feet, had red watery eyes, and as he stepped into the aisle he pitched towards me in an apparent loss of balance,” the arrest report reads.
Maas was taken to the Oklahoma County Jail.
