Man arrested after disrupting flight had eaten hash brownies

A California man who had to be restrained during a US Airways flight dropped his pants and attempted to punch a female flight attendant, blames medical marijuana for the disruption.

Kinman Chan who was returning to Los Angeles from a conference in the Dominican Republic began acting strangely shortly after takeoff. He began by making strange gestures and smiling to a flight crew member. Then while in the bathroom he let out a highly pitched scream. When another flight attendant knocked on the door to ask if the man was alright he emerged with his trousers down his ankles.

Chan told FBI investigators that he “came back to reality” when he exited the bathroom, at which point the crew noticed that his trousers were down; he had also opened all the compartments in the bathroom.

When Chan became aggressive he was subdued with a choke hold and then arrested on arrival. While being interviewed in Pittsburgh he confessed that he did have a medical marijuana card but he ate double the normal dose of marijuana cookies before boarding the flight.

According to Margaret Philbin of the US attorney’s office, Chan did have a legally issued medical marijuana card from an undisclosed medical program.

On Wednesday night Chan remained detained as he was also charged with disorderly conduct. The charge of interfering with a flight attendant’s duties carries up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.