Plane makes emergency landing after passenger tries to open door during flight

A passenger is escorted off Delta Connection flight 3612 after making an emergency landing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Thursday. (Jonathan Spencer Van der Waarden via CNN Newsource)

A regional jet made an emergency landing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Thursday evening after a passenger tried to open an emergency exit door and got into an altercation with a flight attendant.

Delta Connection flight 3612, operated by SkyWest Airlines, was flying from Omaha to Detroit when the disturbance happened around 7 p.m. local time, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

A passenger was “in a fight with our flight attendant right now, trying to open the emergency exit,” the pilot radioed the tower at Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, according to a recording by the website LiveATC.net.

The passenger did not get the door open and the plane landed safely and taxied to the gate.

Video posted to social media by a passenger showed law enforcement escorting a man off the plane with his hands restrained behind his back.

“SkyWest has zero tolerance for unruly behavior as safety for our customers and crew is our top priority,” the airline said in a statement.

So far this year there have been more than 870 reports of unruly passengers on planes in the US, according to FAA data. Potential penalties include jail time, fines and travel restrictions.

By Aaron Cooper, Pete Muntean, CNN

CNN’s Carol Alvardo contributed to this report.