Air traveler bites fellow passenger

updated 12:25 a.m. ET Jan. 24, 2006

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - An airline passenger bit a fellow traveler Monday, then jumped out of a jetliner as it was moving to take off, authorities said. He was later subdued with a stun gun.

The man was taken to a hospital from the Fort Lauderdale airport, the Broward County sheriff’s office said. It was unclear whether he was injured. The other passenger suffered minor injuries from the bite.

The Continental Airlines flight had been delayed for about 30 minutes, and as the Boeing 737 began to taxi, the man started yelling to get off, the sheriff’s office said.

He ran to the front of the plane and banged on windows and the cockpit door, authorities said. As passengers and crew members tried to restrain him, he bit a passenger.

When the pilot depressurized the cabin, the man opened a door, jumped to the tarmac and ran toward the terminal. Deputies said they zapped him with a stun gun after he resisted arrest.

Troy Rigby, 28, will be charged with criminal mischief, criminal trespass, battery, resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer, in addition to an outstanding warrant for marijuana possession, the sheriff’s office said.

The plane, set to fly from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Newark, N.J., was carrying 116 passengers and five crew members. It was rescheduled for later Monday, a Continental spokesman said.

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