A flight home from Italy turned into a wrestling match for this NJ couple

✅A Toms River couple helped restrain a passenger during a chaotic flight from Italy

✅A United flight was diverted to Maine after the woman allegedly attacked crew

✅Her father is a retired New Jersey State Police trooper

TOMS RIVER — A New Jersey couple found themselves in the middle of a wild midair fight while returning home from Italy, helping restrain a woman who allegedly became violent aboard their United Airlines flight.

United Flight 18, with 274 passengers and 13 crew members, was en route from Milan Malpensa Airport in Italy when it was diverted to Bangor, Maine due to an unruly passenger.

The passenger was later identified as Kristina Kedysheva. Witnesses said she assaulted several flight attendants who tried to subdue her.

Alyssa Suder and her husband, Alexander, of Toms River, were returning with their family from a vacation to Italy. They were sitting in the rear of the Boeing 777 while her family, including her father, retired State Police trooper and former Ocean County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Al Della Fave, were sitting in the middle of the plane.

"That woman just kept getting up and walking to the rear galley and talking to the flight attendants. And as the flight went on, she just became more agitated. She kept going back there, filming them with her iPhone, yelling at them," Alyssa told New Jersey 101.5. "I actually spoke to one of the flight attendants before everything happened, and she was just saying, 'you know, we need to watch her because she was just becoming more and more hostile.'"

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Kristina Kedysheva being escorted from a United flight headed for Newark diverted to Maine due to Kedysheva's unruly behavior

Flight turned into a melee

The flight attendant's instinct was correct.

After the crew told Kedysheva that they were going to stop serving her alcohol, her behavior became more "loud and aggressive." She was also told to return to her seat.

Things took a turn for the worse when Kedysheva refused an order to return to her seat, according to the complaint.

"All hell broke loose," Alexander Suder said. "We heard yelling going on, and somebody yelling for help. So I turned around and saw a melee of just people sort of tumbling toward the exit door, and that's when me and Alyssa just got up and ran back there."

The flight attendant told the Suders and several passengers trying to help that they needed to get Kedysheva onto the floor. Kedysheva needed to be restrained before permission would be granted to land in Maine.

"We all jumped on her legs. I was across the back of her shoulders, I pinned her legs down into the ground. Once she was laying flat on the ground on her stomach, with us all restraining her, we were able to basically put her hands behind her back and get the emergency restraints," Alyssa said.

The flight attendant was kicked in the stomach by Kedysheva, causing her to fall and injure her shoulder.

Kedysheva kept flailing but eventually calmed down enough to allow the landing at Bangor International Airport.

Kedysheva was taken off the plane and faces federal charges of interfering with a flight crew or attendant and assault, according to the FBI.

Fear pushed the Toms River couple into action

Alyssa Suder says it was fear that pushed her into action.

"I was so afraid, but the fear kind of pushed us to take action. It was crazy. Your body just goes into, 'okay, it's time for action. We have to do what we have to do to make sure everybody's safe,'" Alyssa said.

Della Fave, who was a trooper from 1985 until 2009, said he was very proud his daughter and son-in-law didn't hesitate to get involved.

"Don't mess with a Jersey trooper's daughter," Della Fave said.

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