Former NFL lineman Gosder Cherilus was arrested after allegedly urinating on a 78-year-old woman during a Delta flight from Boston to Ireland, an incident that forced the plane to turn around and return to Boston. The 40-year-old former Detroit Lions player, who lives in Wakefield, Massachusetts, appeared in East Boston District Court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of disorderly conduct, disturbing a flight crew, and resisting arrest.

Delta Flight 154 had taken off from Logan Airport at 12:12 a.m. EDT on Sunday, after a delay of more than three and a half hours. As the plane flew over Halifax, Nova Scotia, Cherilus, reportedly intoxicated and unhappy with his seat assignment, approached a 78-year-old woman seated behind him and “fully exposed his genitals” before urinating on her for approximately 20 seconds. According to court documents, other passengers tried to intervene by grabbing Cherilus’s hands and demanding that he return to his seat, but he later confronted a 68-year-old man in another seat and struck him with his hand before passing out.

Delta Airlines decided to turn the plane around, and it landed back in Boston at 2:33 a.m., where Massachusetts State Police and Customs and Border Patrol agents boarded the aircraft and confronted Cherilus. The authorities reported that Cherilus became “irate and uncooperative” but was eventually escorted off the plane and arrested.

Delta confirmed the incident, stating that the flight had to return to Logan Airport “due to an unruly customer” and reiterated their “zero tolerance” for unlawful behavior. The airline apologized to passengers for the delay in their travel.

Outside of court, Cherilus did not respond to reporters’ questions but later posted on social media, claiming that his erratic behavior was due to a bad reaction to sleep medication he had taken in preparation for the delayed overnight flight. Cherilus, who played nine seasons in the NFL, spent five years with the Detroit Lions, two with the Indianapolis Colts, and two with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He had a distinguished college career at Boston College, where he protected quarterback Matt Ryan before being drafted 17th overall in the 2008 NFL Draft.