A Spirit Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Detroit, USA, was forced to make an emergency landing in Des Moines after a passenger was pummeled when he complained that his fellow fliers were making too much noise while he was trying to sleep.

Flight 709 had to make an unscheduled stop in Iowa on Thursday.

The emergency landing was caused after the passenger was badly beaten.

A woman, a passenger of Flight 709, whose identity was not shared with the public, said:

We were in shock, really. We couldn’t believe it was happening. It was really scary. I had my kids with me and everybody was like, ‘Oh my God!’

The woman said passengers called the flight attendants to stop everyone from fighting, but the attendants said that they were not getting paid enough to deal with things like these.

After the flight landed in Des Moines, the woman said that attackers changed out their clothing so they wouldn’t be recognized by the authorities.

The woman explained:

They went and changed their clothes before the marshals came. They hurried up and ran to the bathroom because they had blood all over their clothes and they didn’t want to be recognized.

Sergeant Paul Parizek, a police officer, said:

We did not arrest anyone. Pretty unique situation. It was determined that the incident took place over Nebraska, so DMPD has no jurisdiction. At the crew’s request, we escorted one passenger off the plane, and it continued on to Detroit. He was free to go. It appears that he was the victim of the assault but initiated the dispute on the flight. It started because he wanted to sleep and he protested other people, including a flight attendant, for talking too loudly.

Passengers were shocked that people that were involved in the bloody brawl were allowed by the police to board the same flight after it was delayed for 2 hours.