Five hours into a flight from Moscow to Miami last week, Pavel Nesvat decided to start throwing jars of ice cream. That was only the beginning of his bizarre transatlantic rampage, which eventually included Nesvat yanking on the ears of flight attendants, whacking other passengers in the head, and strapping on a backpack before trying to barrel his way toward the cockpit.
Flight attendants finally managed to tie Nesvat to a seat for the rest of the flight. He now faces up to 20 years in prison over the ruckus.
Nesvat's midair freakout started hours into a Transnaero flight from the Russian capital on July 31, according to a federal complaint. The feds say Nesvat is a 37-year-old with dual American and Russian citizenship, but offer few other details about his background.
A LinkedIn page suggests Nesvat works at a car dealership in Hollywood, though:
Nesvat first caused trouble by "throwing ice cream jars onto other passengers," writes Federal Air Marshall Joel Beck in his criminal complaint.
When a flight attendant told him to knock it off, he grabbed a nearby female passenger and touched her inappropriately. When two more attendants stepped in, Nesvat began "physically assaulting them and pulling their ears," Beck writes.
Then he grabbed his backpack and made his way toward the front of the plane, hitting a few passengers on the head for good measure along the way.
It took several more flight attendants to wrestle him back to his seat and tie him down as the captain called for police to be ready when they landed in Miami.
Nesvat, who is charged with interfering with a flight crew, was hit with $200,000 bond by U.S. District Judge William Turnoff last week; his arraignment is set for Aug. 15.
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