Narrative:

Approximately an hour from landing; the flight attendants called and stated that they were having a problem with a passenger in the cabin. They told us that he was punching the passenger sitting next to him; hitting the back of the seat in front of him; and also hitting the inside of the fuselage. The captain requested a little more information and asked if we needed to divert. We sent a message to dispatch explaining that we had a situation on board and that we were thinking about diverting. One of the flight attendants called back a few minutes later. She stated that the B was struck by the suspect; and that able bodied passengers were restraining him and taking him to the back row of the airplane.the captain and I discussed the situation and decided that we needed to find a suitable airport to divert. We chose ZZZ and sent another message to dispatch stating our plan. We also [advised ATC]. A few minutes passed and we received a message from dispatch containing [a second release] to our new destination. We landed without incident. The ground crew was waiting for us at the gate. As a result; we were able to get the door open without delay. Law enforcement was also waiting and entered the airplane immediately. The flight attendants made an announcement to all of the passengers that they were required to remain in their seats. She further made another announcement telling the passengers to keep their cell phones put away. I have to say that in retrospect; this announcement was a stoke of pure genius. I was standing in the cockpit door at the time and I didn't see a single passenger capturing video. The offending passenger and his [companion] were removed without incident.on the ground; the captain called the chief pilot duty phone to inform the company while I called dispatch to coordinate our continuing flight to [the original destination]. We were unable to leave right away because the de-ice crew had already left for the night. We had to wait for them to come back out to the airport. I was idle at this point; so I decided to walk through the cabin to see how the passengers were doing. I have to say that I received perhaps 30 compliments on how well and how professionally the cabin crew handled this situation. There were (of course) a few complainers and a few thought we should have continued on the extra 30 minutes to [our destination].both the captain and I commented that we felt the flight attendants did a fantastic job. We also thought the dispatcher handled the situation perfectly by simply sending [a second release] and not taking up our valuable time by asking a lot of questions.

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An Air Carrier First Officer reported an inflight incident where a passenger was physically abusive to another passenger and a flight attendant. The passenger was restrained; and the flight diverted to the nearest suitable airport where he was removed by law enforcement personnel.

Narrative: Approximately an hour from landing; the flight attendants called and stated that they were having a problem with a passenger in the cabin. They told us that he was punching the passenger sitting next to him; hitting the back of the seat in front of him; and also hitting the inside of the fuselage. The captain requested a little more information and asked if we needed to divert. We sent a message to dispatch explaining that we had a situation on board and that we were thinking about diverting. One of the flight attendants called back a few minutes later. She stated that the B was struck by the suspect; and that able bodied passengers were restraining him and taking him to the back row of the airplane.The captain and I discussed the situation and decided that we needed to find a suitable airport to divert. We chose ZZZ and sent another message to dispatch stating our plan. We also [advised ATC]. A few minutes passed and we received a message from dispatch containing [a second release] to our new destination. We landed without incident. The ground crew was waiting for us at the gate. As a result; we were able to get the door open without delay. Law enforcement was also waiting and entered the airplane immediately. The flight attendants made an announcement to all of the passengers that they were required to remain in their seats. She further made another announcement telling the passengers to keep their cell phones put away. I have to say that in retrospect; this announcement was a stoke of pure genius. I was standing in the cockpit door at the time and I didn't see a single passenger capturing video. The offending passenger and his [companion] were removed without incident.On the ground; the captain called the chief pilot duty phone to inform the company while I called dispatch to coordinate our continuing flight to [the original destination]. We were unable to leave right away because the de-ice crew had already left for the night. We had to wait for them to come back out to the airport. I was idle at this point; so I decided to walk through the cabin to see how the passengers were doing. I have to say that I received perhaps 30 compliments on how well and how professionally the cabin crew handled this situation. There were (of course) a few complainers and a few thought we should have continued on the extra 30 minutes to [our destination].Both the captain and I commented that we felt the flight attendants did a fantastic job. We also thought the dispatcher handled the situation perfectly by simply sending [a second release] and not taking up our valuable time by asking a lot of questions.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.