An American Airlines flight to Miami was forced to turn around when a manic passenger — who was convinced that demonic spirits followed him onto the plane — swallowed rosary beads and violently kicked a flight attendant across the airplane aisle.
Just moments after the flight left Savannah, Ga. Monday night, Delange Augustin, 31, began “yelling and shaking” in what the crew initially assumed was a seizure.
The incident then took a bizarre turn when Augustin began gulping down rosary beads to try and ward off what he claimed were “Satan’s disciple(s)” that followed him onto the flight, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The New York Times.
When flight attendants approached the crazed passenger, he kicked one in the chest so hard they flew across the aisle of the plane and crashed into a window, the affidavit said.
Augustin’s behavior “appeared purposeful, though difficult to describe,” Savannah Solomon, a special agent with the FBI, wrote in the affidavit.
After learning of the disturbance, the pilots turned the plane around and landed safely in Savannah, but Augustin continued to cause a commotion as the crew attempted to deboard other passengers.
He stormed to the front of the aircraft and threw several wild punches at a flight attendant before passengers had to wrangle him and his sister, whom he was traveling with, to the ground.
After the duo was detained, Augustin’s sister told authorities they were traveling to Haiti to “flee religious attacks of a spiritual nature,” according to the affidavit.
While on the flight, Augustin told his sister “to close her eyes and pray because Satan’s disciple(s) had followed them onto the plane and the legion did not want the Augustins to make it to Haiti,” the affidavit said.
His sister told authorities he swallowed the rosary beads “because they are a weapon of strength in the spiritual warfare.”
Only about eight passengers were aboard the plane at the time of the outburst, and no one was seriously injured, according to the affidavit.
“We appreciate the professionalism of the entire crew and thank our passengers for their understanding,” American Airlines said in a statement.
Augustin, who was hospitalized after swallowing the rosary beads, was later booked in jail on several charges, including misdemeanor battery and criminal property damage.
