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Pleasant Hill: Pursuit ends with man shooting self, police say SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT — A former Bay Area man is accused in federal court of biting a flight attendant’s ear during a drunken fit on a flight from Amsterdam to San Francisco International Airport.

Jonah Cayle Snow attacked two male flight attendants on Wednesday after he was approached for smoking a cigarette and drinking alcohol in his seat, the FBI said in federal court documents.

Snow and his girlfriend Nikki Zeebregts were only allowed on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight 605 on Wednesday after agreeing that they would not be served alcohol while aboard. KLM officials had advised the crew not to serve the couple because of how drunk they were on their previous flight from Dussledorf to Amsterdam that day, FBI Special Agent David F. Peacock wrote in a sworn affidavit filed Wednesday.

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The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Snow on Thursday with one count of “interference with flight crew members and attendants,” punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Snow was in custody when he made his first court appearance before a federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday, but he’s since been released on a $25,000 bond, according to court records. His federal public defender could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Snow is scheduled to return to court for arraignment and preliminary hearing on Jan. 12.

Snow’s Facebook page identifies him as a Santa Rosa native, a former student at Aragon High School in San Mateo, and a current resident of Roermond, a city in Limburg in The Netherlands. He says he works at a roofing company. His girlfriend lists herself as a tattoo artist from The Netherlands. She was not charged with any crime related to Wednesday’s incident.

Trouble began about halfway through the 11-hour flight when flight attendants separated the couple for having a disruptive fight and brought Zeebregts to the rear of the plane “to calm down,” Peacock wrote.

“Zeebregts again became aggressive and disruptive and was restrained to prevent injury to flight attendants or any passengers,” Peacock wrote. “Shortly thereafter, flight attendants began to smell cigarette smoke and identified that Snow was smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol in his seat.”

The attendants assumed Snow brought the alcohol on board despite the early admonishment. They told Snow to extinguish the cigarette, to which he became “verbally aggressive and disruptive.”

“Two male flight attendants approached Snow to place him in constraints,” Peacock wrote. “Snow resisted the flight attendants, violently flailing, scratching both flight attendants.”

One of the attendants received the brunt of the abuse, including a bite to the ear, Peacock wrote. Upon the flight’s arrival at SFO, he was taken to the hospital and Snow was placed under arrest.

The court documents do not say how the tussle resolved but notes that once Snow was subdued, a female flight attendant had to sit next to him for the remainder of the flight to try to keep him calm.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines said no passengers were injured.

“KLM’s number one priority is the safety and security of its passengers and they were not affected by the incident,” the airline said in a statement Friday.