Roger Allan Holmberg, a church pastor, is facing charges after allegedly hitting his wife in the head on an Alaska Airlines flight on July 2.
In accordance with ABCNewsThe flight was heading from Seattle to Anchorage, and disrespect arose when Roger discovered that his wife had an upgrade on the flight and he had not.
“How did you get promoted?” Roger asked, to which the woman replied that she was a “gold member,” or VIP. She demanded that he not say anything bad to her, but the man responded with a middle finger.
Roger then hit the woman on the head. The wife testified that her husband hit her on the head with “the back of his knuckles.” She added that her husband knew she had epilepsy and that contact with her head could trigger a seizure.
She also mentions that Roger has insulted her on numerous occasions and even broke her finger.
The husband objects and says that he was simply upset that his wife was “promoted to first grade.”
“Although I was upset, I am not a violent person and had no intention of hurting my wife,” he says. He says he “casually hit the woman over the head to get her attention” and that the woman “was often disrespectful” to him and had “anger issues.”
When the crew became aware of the incident, they notified the authorities. Roger was detained upon landing and taken to the Anchorage police station.
According to the newspaper, he has since been released and cannot come closer than 100 meters to the woman.