American Airlines passenger duct taped to his seat after homophobic racist outburst during Texas flight to Newark as feds contemplate charges. Plane was forced to make emergency landing at Baltimore after man becoming a ‘risk’ to others.
Define flying etiquette? An American Airlines flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Newark descended into chaos after a male passenger going into a homophobic racist rant, forcing crew to duct tape the unruly passenger and the plane making an emergency landing.
Witnesses who were on board the domestic flight on Thursday night told CBSNews his behavior was putting everyone at risk.
Viral video shows the un-identified passenger, bound and tied to his seat — his hands, head and torso restrained.
Unruly American Airlines passenger duct taped id as Arizona realtor
Define flying etiquette
Juan Mejia, a retired law enforcement officer, and Richard Olenick say the chaos unfolded about two hours into their flight from Dallas, Texas.
A witness on board told the outlet that the man appeared to be drunk and started yelling at a passenger next to him. The witness said a flight attendant attempted to calm the situation, only for the man to allegedly call her a racial slur along with making homophobic comments.
Witnesses said the passenger then became violent, prompting the crew to restrain him and the flight to be diverted to Baltimore where the aircraft made an emergency landing.
After law enforcement took the man off the plane, the flight continued on to Newark.
‘The safety and security of our customers and team members is our top priority and we do not tolerate violence. We thank our team members for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding,’ American Airlines said in a statement released to TMZ.
Unruly passenger faces potential federal charges
The FBI said the passenger is in custody on state charges as the agency continues to investigate the incident.
Added the agency, ‘The U.S. Attorney’s Office has consulted the District of Maryland to determine if federal charges will be filed.’
The episode comes amid a re emergence of unruly passenger behavior on domestic flights over America’s skies.
Noted a recent FAA report, ‘The rate of unruly passenger incidents steadily dropped by over 80 percent since record highs in early 2021, but recent increases show there remains more work to do.’
The report outlines year to date, 1163 incidents of unruly passengers, down from 5973 unruly passenger behavior in 2021 amid the COVID-19 crises of that year.
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