Update: No Bail for Passenger Behind Violent Melee on Delta Flight 129

Joseph Daniel Hudek IV will remain behind bars following the bizarre incident which saw wine bottles wielded as weapons on a transpacific Delta Airlines flight last week.

The 23-year-old passenger who was arrested following a violent disturbance on a July 6 Delta Air Lines flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) did not request bail at a court hearing on Thursday and will remain in custody for the time being. Joseph Daniel Hudek IV is facing a federal charge of “interference with flight crew” for an alleged brutal assault on a flight attendant.

According to The Chicago Tribune, Hudek’s attorney filed 185 letters of support for his client, but lawyer Robert Flennaugh II told the court that he was not prepared to argue for Hudek’s release at this time. Federal prosecutors told U.S. Magistrate Judge James Donohue that the defendant should remain in detention, citing public safety concerns and a fear that the violent flyer might attempt to flee the country.

Hudek is accused of causing panic in the forward premium class cabin of the Delta Air Lines flight. According to charging documents, the agitated flyer attempted to open an exit door, punched a flight attendant and hit a fellow passenger with a wine bottle – all within about 45 minutes of the passenger plane departing SEA.

The rampaging passenger was eventually restrained, but not before a flight attendant reportedly hit Hudek himself over the head with yet another wine bottle. According to investigators, it took several passengers to keep Hudek restrained while the pilot turned the plane around and headed back to the airport. He is said to have remained combative right up until the flight reached SEA.

“He was going back and forth to the bathroom and then he started going toward the exit door,” an eyewitness on the flight told local media outlets at the time. “They broke two bottles of wine on his head. I tried to choke him and he just threw me off like a rag doll.”