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Passenger arrested for assault on Toronto-Vancouver WestJet flight

Peel police arrested an unruly passenger on a WestJet flight after the plane unexpectedly returned to Pearson airport with mechanical trouble.
Peel police arrested an unruly passenger on a WestJet flight after the plane unexpectedly returned to Pearson airport with mechanical trouble. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Peel police have arrested their second unruly passenger in as many days as a 68-year-old is being charged after allegedly assaulting a flight attendant on a plane bound for British Columbia.

The incident happened on a WestJet flight headed to Vancouver which returned to Pearson airport minutes after takeoff due to a mechanical problem.

READ MORE: ‘Unruly passenger’ arrested after Air Canada flight returns to Toronto

“During this return to Pearson, a passenger became unruly and assaulted a flight attendant,” Const. Mark Fisher told AM 640. “He also caused damage in the bathroom of the plane but it did not affect the integrity of the plane.”

Randy Paholko of Vancouver has been charged with assault, endangering an aircraft and two counts of mischief, and will be in Brampton court on Saturday.

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On Thursday, a flight attendant was injured after a 57-year-old passenger got involved in an altercation on an Air Canada flight bound for Budapest, Hungary. That flight had to make an unscheduled return to Pearson.

John Svab, of Hamilton, was charged with uttering death threats, aggravated assaulted and endangering an aircraft while in flight.

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