DENVER -- A United flight headed to California was diverted to Denver International Airport Friday afternoon because of an unruly passenger on board who had allegedly threatened that he had an explosive device, airport officials said.

The passenger, identified as Jose Manuel Pelayo-Ortega, was taken into custody when United Flight 735 landed safely at about 4:35 p.m. The plane was escorted into DIA by two F-15 fighter jets from Buckley Air Force Base and was met with officials from the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration, as well as numerous airport police cars and fire engines.

The flight had departed Chicago O'Hare Airport at about 2:15 p.m. Denver time and was headed to Sacramento when a man on board seemed to lose control and tried to open up the door on the Airbus A320 mid-flight, passengers said.

"Somebody on the plane got a little out of hand and he tried to open the side doors. He was asked by a flight attendant to sit down and he refused," said passenger Steve Casstevens.

Passengers said they then saw the man walk to the front of the plane and turn violent.

"The next thing I know the stewardess yelled at him and he took a swing at her," said first-class passenger Fred Bailard, who said he saw it all from his seat. "People jumped up and got him down and he started yelling that he had a camera inside of him and he just needed to get off the plane."

"A couple of the other gentlemen who I talked to, who were actually involved in taking him down and tackling him, said that he was just making some wild remarks that he might have a bomb, that he was quoting Scriptures," said Casstevens.

The men who restrained the suspect just happened to be three Secret Service agents who were traveling between assignments, said Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren. President George W. Bush, who is protected by the Secret Service, was scheduled to tour a fuel-cell technology plant in West Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday.

The United plane landed in a remote area of the airport where it was searched for explosives. The 138 passengers and six flight crew members were loaded off the plane and bused to the terminal, where they were questioned by authorities.

After bomb-sniffing dogs cleared the passenger cabin and the cargo hold, and the luggage was rescreened, the passengers boarded the same plane with a new flight crew and resumed their flight to Sacramento at about 7:30 p.m.

Pelayo-Ortega is in a Denver Jail awaiting a possible federal charge of interfering with a flight crew. The suspect was flying with his brother but only Pelayo-Ortega was taken into custody.

"It was scary," Bailard said.

"You never know what might happen with something like that," Casstevens said.

The passengers said they were impressed with the way the flight crew handled the situation and said they were treated well by United during their unexpected visit to Denver.

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