An Ontario man was allegedly restrained with duct tape after trying to open an emergency exit door mid-flight and injuring a flight attendant, according to an incident report obtained from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
According to the report, a man from Collingwood, Ontario, had to be pressured by other passengers after insisting he was “the captain” and trying to get off the plane.
The American Airlines flight, en route from Milwaukee to Dallas on November 19, was on the final leg of its flight when the man in question approached one of the flight attendants on the plane, leading to the confrontation.
According to police statements included in the report, the flight attendant initially thought the man had gotten up to flush a cup down the toilet, but instead he approached her in a “noisy and agitated” manner. He then complimented the flight attendant’s watch and face mask, then made a comment about “needing to get off the plane now,” the report said.
Things quickly escalated from there and the man allegedly tried to run for the door, the report said.
Get daily national news
Get the day’s top political, economic and current affairs news, headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
The flight attendant, referred to only as Jackson in the report, quickly tried to stop him, pinning herself between the man and the director when he jumped on her. She suffered injuries to her wrist and neck after being held in “semi-suffocation,” witnesses on board said in the report.
The flight attendant tried to distract the man and calm things down while asking her colleagues for help, according to her statement.
She said she “was hit hard and raised her arms sideways to block the door,” before three other passengers intervened and put the man in a bear grip.
A second flight attendant handed the helping passenger some tape, and they restrained his wrists and legs, the report said.
Passengers kept him pinned to the floor of the plane for the rest of the flight.
Upon landing, seven police officers and six FBI agents were waiting at the scene. Two officers boarded the plane and removed the man in a wheelchair, and he was detained for further investigation, an officer wrote in the report.
An American Airlines spokesperson said the airline was aware of the incident in which “Flight 1915 was greeted by law enforcement upon arrival at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport due to a customer disturbance.”
“We thank our team members and customers for managing a difficult situation,” they said.
&Copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
