A passenger on a Carnival cruise ship has pleaded guilty to slamming a cocktail glass into a man’s face during a theater performance after the victim asked him to be quiet.
Michael Truman, 39, of Portsmouth, Virginia, was aboard the Carnival Magic cruise ship off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Oct. 20, when he was seated on a bar stool during a theatrical showing of the movie “The Flick,” authorities said. .
The man was loud and appeared to be intoxicated, so another passenger, identified as “JH” in court documents obtained by the Post, told him to be quiet.
When Truman was asked again and refused, JH looked for an employee to remove the person who allegedly stood up and yelled, according to the criminal affidavit.
But as he tried to pass, “Truman picked up a drink glass and smashed it in JH’s face. Truman then climbed on top of JH and began punching him,” the filing states.
Officials said the victim suffered cuts to his face that required about 16 stitches.
When the security guard entered Truman’s guest room, Truman was “unshirted, holding a towel in his right hand, and was bleeding heavily from a laceration,” according to the affidavit.
He claimed that he was clapping “a lot” during the show and that strangers asked him to stop clapping loudly.
Truman further claimed that he only hit JH after the passenger first swung at him.
“When asked ‘why’ he hit the other person, Truman stated that he did not know,” the document states.
“Truman also stated that he did not know how he got the cut on his hand, claimed that he had had three or four drinks that day, and offered to stay in his room for the remainder of the cruise.”
He repeatedly claimed he was defending himself.
“A broken Old Fashioned/lowball cocktail glass was discovered near the scene of the assault,” the filing said.
Truman pleaded guilty on February 15 to assaulting a passenger with a dangerous weapon, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 29th and could face up to 10 years in prison.
Carnival and Truman’s attorney, Nicholas Ryan Hobbs, did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
