A United Airlines flight from Chicago to Hong Kong was diverted to Alaska after the flight crew reported a man on board had vandalized two airplane lavatories by spreading human waste, airport police said on Friday.
"We received a report of a passenger who had messed up the bathrooms with his own faeces," Anchorage Airport Police Lieutenant Joe Gamache said by telephone.
The man, a 22-year-old Vietnamese passport holder with US permanent residency, was escorted off the plane in handcuffs on Thursday night and met by law enforcement in the terminal, Gamache said.
After being interviewed by authorities through a translator, he was transported to an Anchorage hospital for a mental evaluation.
"After the interviews were done, there were no appropriate charges for anything criminal," Gamache said.
The passenger, whose name was not released, was shirtless when authorities met the flight in Alaska, Gamache said.
The man made no threats and did not try to interfere with the flight crew, Gamache said.
Authorities needed an interpreter to interview the man, and much of what the man said was unintelligible or did not make sense, even to the translator, Gamache said.
Authorities handcuffed the man for his safety as well as their own, Gamache said.
United Airlines, owned by United Continental Holdings Inc, said there were 245 people on board the plane and said it provided hotel accommodations for its customers.
