DALLAS (AP) -- A federal grand jury indicted a man for allegedly assaulting and intimidating a Southwest Airlines flight attendant on a flight last summer.
Steven Kyle Maxwell, who was flying from Houston to Tulsa, also allegedly bit another passenger on the hand and struck him on the lip in the July 2004 incident, U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper said in a news release Thursday.
The Tulsa, Okla., man, who caused the flight to be detoured to Dallas, was charged with one count of interference with flight crew members and attendants and one count of assault, according to the release.
Maxwell's attorney said the man's behavior was triggered by a painful hip condition. Maxwell was honorably discharged from the Army with a medical disability after an automobile accident and has a pin in his hip and needs surgery, said his attorney, David Finn.
Finn said he believes the combination of prescribed pain medication Maxwell was taking and something that happened aboard the plane might have contributed to the incident.
''He's got really bad hips, and some sort of tray or seat came down on his hip,'' he said.
If convicted, Maxwell faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
