Yuriy Poplauskiy, Assault on a Flight, Oregon 2019

Punches Fly: North Carolina Man Sentenced to Prison for Assault on Commercial Flight

A Charlotte, North Carolina man has been sentenced to federal prison for punching a fellow passenger in the face on a commercial flight from Denver to Portland, Oregon.

Yuriy Poplauskiy, 40, was sentenced to 12 months in federal prison and one year of supervised release, according to court documents.

According to the documents, several passengers observed Poplauskiy exhibiting strange behavior, leading some to believe he was intoxicated, on August 14, 2019. With 25 minutes remaining in the flight, Poplauskiy peered through a gap in the seats at a man sitting behind him on the aisle and then punched him in the jaw.

Poplauskiy ran to the lavatory, but eventually returned to his seat. Minutes later, prior to landing, Poplauskiy tried to start a fight with another male passenger and groped a male flight attendant’s genitals. Police officers met the plane at the gate in Portland and arrested Poplauskiy.

On September 18, 2019, a federal grand jury in Portland returned an indictment charging Poplauskiy with assault by striking while on board an aircraft. Before sentencing today, he pleaded guilty to the single charge.

Despite violating his pre-trial release conditions six times, including by incurring two new criminal convictions for unlawfully possessing methamphetamine and eluding arrest in a motor vehicle, Poplauskiy received the prison sentence. This case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Port of Portland Police Department and the Portland Police Bureau. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.

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