8 hours ago
The 21-year-old Indian-origin man was involved in a mid-air brawl with another passenger. He was arrested upon landing at Miami airport.
Ishaan Sharma (right) was involved in a mid-air brawl with another passenger onboard Frontier Airline flight.
New Delhi,UPDATED: Jul 3, 2025 20:55 IST
An Indian-origin man from New Jersey was arrested after allegedly attacking a fellow passenger during a violent mid-air brawl on a Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami on Monday night.
Ishaan Sharma, 21, was taken into custody upon landing at Miami Airport. He has been charged with battery.
Video shot on a mobile phone shows Sharma and another passenger, Keanu Evans, exchanging blows as other flyers and a flight attendant attempt to break up the fight.
“Let him go. Stop, let him go,” a fellow passenger can be heard pleading, while a crew member tells them, “Sir, you have to sit down.”
Evans, speaking to WSVN, said the altercation was unprovoked and began after Sharma started behaving erratically and issuing death threats. “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 said.
Evans said he alerted the crew and was advised to press the assistance button if Sharma continued. Moments later, Sharma allegedly confronted him again. “He just got up, put his forehead on mine like he was challenging me, and then grabbed me by the throat and started choking me,” Evans recalled. “At that moment, it was fight or flight... all I could do was defend myself.”
The scuffle left Sharma with a cut above his left eyebrow, while Evans had scratches on his face. Witnesses said Sharma returned to his seat grinning and took selfies of his bloodied face before being escorted off the plane in handcuffs.
According to The Daily Mail, Sharma was first taken to Jackson West Hospital for treatment and then booked into custody. During his court appearance on Tuesday, his attorney Renee Gordon claimed the incident began because Sharma was meditating. “My client is from a religion where he was meditating,” Gordon said. “Unfortunately, the passenger behind him did not like that.”
The judge, however, was not convinced. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Gerald Hubbart set Sharma’s bond at $500 and issued a stay-away order, barring him from contacting Evans or going near his school or workplace.
“I don’t want people to get the wrong idea about who I am,” Evans told 7News. “I’m a good person. I recently got baptised. I just wish I had been more firm in asking to be moved away from him.”
Frontier Airlines has yet to respond publicly to the incident.
- Ends
Published On:
Jul 3, 2025
