US reports: Man rams cockpit; fights with officers at airport

A passenger who sprinted at a plane's cockpit during a flight, pounding on the door before attacking a flight attendant and fighting with officers at the Newark airport, has been charged with aggravated assault and other crimes, according to media reports. Matthew Dingley, 28, of New York, was arrested Thursday for injuring the flight attendant and six officers, including one who was hospitalized with four broken ribs. A passenger on the United Airlines flight from Washington, DC, to Newark said that it started when Dingley sprinted at the cockpit and began to pound on the door. The passenger, Mike Egbert, said Dingley then attacked a flight attendant who tried to intervene. Other passengers on the plane stepped in to help the attendant and brought the situation under control, Egbert said. The man charged at officers when the plane landed in Newark, sending them falling down the boarding stairs leading up to the plane, Port Authority spokesman Scott Ladd said. Officers were eventually able to restrain Dingley. The injured officers and the flight attendant were taken to a hospital. Dingley was charged with aggravated assault, criminal trespassing, resisting arrest and interfering with transportation.<br/>