Brian Hsu Of Irvine Charged With Assaulting Flight Attendant Aboard

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A 20-year-old Irvine man has been federally charged with attacking a flight attendant aboard an American Airlines flight from New York to Orange County last week, forcing the plane to be diverted to Denver.

The passenger suspected of alleged assault of a female flight attendant on AA Flight 976 from JFK to John Wayne Airport. (source: Mackenzie Rose)

The U.S. Attorney’s Office reported Monday that Brian Hsu has been charged with interference with a flight crew and assault within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the U.S.

During a brief court appearance in Santa Ana on Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Autumn Spaeth set Hsu’s bond at $10,000. He was expected to post that and be released from custody. He is next expected in federal court in Denver on Nov. 15.

Hsu was represented by Andrea Jacobs of the Federal Public Defender’s Office, but the defendant said he intended to hire a private attorney going forward.

Spaeth restricted his travel to Rhode Island for unspecified medical care, Southern California and Denver. Hsu will need permission to travel elsewhere, but Jacobs indicated that he wants to return to school in New York in the spring.

The attack occurred on the evening of Oct. 27 aboard American Airlines Flight 976 from John F. Kennedy Airport to John Wayne Airport.

According to an FBI affidavit in the case, Hsu was returning home after undergoing brain surgery when the conflict happened in the flight.

The defendant’s mother, Julia Yu, declined to comment after the hearing. She was on the plane with him at the time and is a witness in the case.

Hsu is accused of assaulting the flight attendant Wednesday aboard an American Airlines flight, which took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport and was bound for John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana before it had to be diverted to Denver International Airport, prosecutors said.

Four witnesses told the FBI that the flight attendant told Hsu to stay away from the plane’s bathroom, prompting him to punch her in the face “with sufficient force to cause her to hit the lavatory door,” the FBI alleged in an affidavit.

Another witness said it appeared the defendant punched her in a way that was “practiced or trained,” according to the document. Another witness “recalled the victim stating, `I have a fractured nose’ after the strike.”

According to the affidavit, the flight attendant told an investigator said she was in the “mid-galley section of the airplane when she felt something strike her in the head.” When she turned to see what had struck her she saw the defendant and she asked him if he was OK, the investigator wrote in the document.

Hsu did not apologize and said he needed to use the bathroom, the victim told the investigator.  She told Hsu it was occupied and that because the “fasten seatbelt” sign was on he needed to go back to his seat, according to the document.

Hsu made a motion to stretch again, but instead slammed his…