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Juan Gabriel Reyes, 51 years old and originally from Pahokee, Florida, was arrested last Sunday aboard Frontier Airlines flight 3345 after being involved in a series of violent and dangerous incidents that forced the aircraft to be diverted to Miami International Airport (MIA), according to the arrest report from the Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office, which Local 10 obtained.
The flight was covering the San Juan, Puerto Rico to Chicago O'Hare route when the incidents began approximately 45 minutes after takeoff, around 10:30 PM.
According to authorities, Reyes first attempted to open an emergency exit door while the plane was in flight, telling other passengers that he wanted to leave the aircraft.
The flight attendants stopped him and ordered him to return to his seat, but he ignored the instructions and headed to the front of the plane.
Once there, he tried to access the cockpit: according to the report, “he placed his hand on the door handle and aggressively pushed the pilot's door with his shoulder,” being blocked by a flight attendant.
After being allowed to use the bathroom, Reyes attempted to urinate on the floor of the restroom before being moved to another seat.
Another Frontier flight attendant traveling off duty voluntarily offered to sit in the same row as Reyes after his relocation, in order to keep an eye on him.
When she was alerted that he was tampering with her belongings and attempted to retrieve her purse, Reyes "grabbed her by the head and began to strangle her," according to the sheriff's office agents.
Several passengers immediately intervened to help the victim, and "crew members and passengers worked together to restrain him while he resisted," the arrest report states.
The flight was diverted to MIA, where it landed around 11:55 PM local time. Agents from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office boarded the aircraft and took Reyes into custody.
The FBI arrived at the scene and took over the federal investigation. Reyes was informed of his Miranda rights but "chose to exercise them and did not make any statement," according to the report.
Reyes is facing federal charges that include interference with crew members—an offense that can carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison under U.S. federal law—and assault within maritime and territorial jurisdiction, in addition to a state charge of battery.
Flight 3345 continued to Chicago hours after the emergency landing in Miami. As of this Wednesday, Reyes remained in custody at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade with a bail set at $20,000.
This incident is not the first of its kind in recent months.
In May, a passenger assaulted a flight attendant and attempted to open the cockpit on a United Airlines flight from the Dominican Republic to Newark.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recorded a historic high of 5,973 reports of unruly passengers in 2021, a number that dropped to 1,621 in 2025. However, so far in 2026, the trend has raised concerns again: nearly 500 reports in the first months of the year, with 110 in April alone.
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