Cops: Brothers Jumped Pilot Who Booted Them

A man punched an American Airlines pilot who kicked him off a flight from Miami, and he and his brother then attacked the pilot again before bystanders tackled the brothers in the terminal, officials said today. Jonathan and Luis Baez, both of Puerto Rico, were arrested at Miami International Airport. It started when the plane taxied away from the gate, and a flight attendant tried and failed to wake up 27-year-old Jonathan Baez so he could buckle his seatbelt. The pilot returned to the gate and told the man to exit the plane.

Luis Baez, 29, decided to join his brother as he was leaving. The pair walked off the plane, but then Jonathan Baez returned and punched the pilot in the face and hit the flight attendant in the shoulder when she tried to intervene, police said. Both brothers attacked the pilot again in the jet bridge and chased him in the terminal, according to the arrest report. Other flight crew members and passengers held down the brothers until police arrived. (More American Airlines stories.)