Nevada man sentenced for assault on Vegas-Seattle flight

RENO — A 41-year-old Nevada man has been ordered to serve six months home confinement and pay more than $49,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to assault and interference with crew members during a 2019 flight from Seattle to Las Vegas.

David Parkhurst of Gardnerville was removed from the plane and arrested in Reno on Oct. 31, 2019 after his flight was forced to make an unscheduled landing at Reno-Tahoe International Airport, prosecutors said.

He pleaded guilty in February to one count of interference with the flight crew members and attendants and one count of simple assault on an aircraft.

In addition to home confinement and restitution, U.S. District Judge Miranda Du sentenced him on Friday to five years’ probation.

Prosecutors say he touched a female passenger’s inner thigh without consent, then started to punch her multiple times after she “smacked his hand away.” Flight attendants and other passengers then intervened to stop him from punching her and restrain him before the plane landed, they said.