Video: Indian-origin man chokes passenger mid-flight, arrested in US

Video: Indian-origin man chokes passenger mid-flight, arrested in US

Mangalore Today News Network

United States, July 4, 2025: An Indian-origin man has been arrested for allegedly attacking his co-passenger during a flight from Philadelphia to Miami. A video that has gone viral shows Ishaan Sharma, 21, a resident of Newark, and Keanu Evans involved in a fight on a Frontier Airlines flight on June 30.

The clip shows Sharma and Evans trying to grab each other’s necks, with fellow passengers asking them to stop.

Evans reportedly told the police that the attack was "unprovoked" and occurred when Sharma allegedly "approached him and grabbed his neck while returning to his assigned seat".

New: Ishaan Sharma, 21, was arrested for allegedly committing an unprovoked assault on a fellow passenger aboard a Frontier flight to Miami.

Sharma faces charges of battery and a $500 bond, per jail records.

The victim reported to police that the attack was unprovoked,… pic.twitter.com/9xwPmKNHaF

— The Facts Dude (@The_Facts_Dude) July 3, 2025

"He was doing some, like, dark laugh like, ’Ha ha ha ha ha.’ And he was saying things like, ’You puny, mortal man, if you challenge me, it will result in your death’," Evans, who sat one seat ahead of Sharma, told 7News.

He said he then left his seat to use the washroom and informed the flight attendants about Sharma, who told him to press the assistance button if it continued.

Evans said he then pushed the button when Sharma "kept threatening him with death".

He said the situation then escalated.

"You know, he’s looking at me very angrily and we’re looking eye to eye, forehead to forehead, and then he just grabs me by the throat and just starts choking me. At that moment, it was, you know, fight or flight responses kick in. I’m in a tight, confined space on an aircraft, and all I can do is just defend myself," he said.

Sharma was taken into custody upon landing and has been charged with battery.

During his court appearance on Tuesday, Sharma’s lawyer reportedly claimed that the incident began because he was meditating.

"My client is from a religion where he was meditating. Unfortunately, the passenger behind him did not like that," a news outlet quoted his attorney as saying.