Passengers Restrain Unruly Flyer on Frontier Airlines Flight
A man was forcibly restrained by fellow passengers on a Frontier Airlines flight after he began violently reacting, hitting windows and kicking seats, during a mental health crisis.
An unruly man was restrained by passengers on a flight after he began kicking seats and hitting a window, eventually breaking the Plexiglas.
The incident took place on Frontier Airlines flight F9 4856 on Tuesday as it departed from Denver to Houston before landing at George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Footage captured by passenger Victoria Clark shows several men working to hold the man down and restrain him using cable-ties and a shoelace.
Ms Clark told Storyful the outburst occurred after a woman in front of the unruly passenger asked for a seat change.
Ms Clark said the man allegedly started yelling and kicking the woman's seat.
"Then he immediately stood up and started punching the window and kicking at it," she explained.
"When people tried to stop him, he started waving his bloody knuckles around."
Ms Clarke said the man then allegedly proceeded to punch the window until a male passenger grabbed his arm and twisted it behind him.
"He was able to shatter the first layer of the window before being stopped," she added.
Local news station KRIV reported that Frontier Airlines did not press charges against the man.
"It was absolutely chaotic. The most terrifying thing I've ever been through. We turned around, and we saw this guy just punching out the window, and immediately we screamed for help," passenger Jessica Brown told Fox 26.
Passengers said the man was screaming in Spanish, telling people not to touch him.
"I just thought we are not having another 9-11. Like, this is not going to happen, and I was just so thankful that my husband and the other men jumped in immediately, so he didn't break the second panel of the window. We were using shoestrings and belts, headphones, just to get him restrained," Ms Brown said.
Passengers said the man appeared to be suffering from a mental health crisis.
Last month, flight attendants were recorded attempting to restrain and duct tape the mouth of an Australian woman who was thrashing and screaming on board a Fiji Airways flight as she travelled to the country's main island.
In exclusive vision provided to news.com.au, the distressed 69-year-old passenger, who police say was "intoxicated and causing a nuisance", was filmed on flight FJ871 from San Francisco to Nadi.
The flight landed in Nadi on Monday, January 20 local time, where it was met by local law enforcement and she was arrested.
She was charged for one count of Unruly Passenger and was produced in custody at Nadi Magistrate Court. She was bailed on $345 and a stop departure was issued.
Under Fiji's Civil Aviation Authority, airlines have the power to make a passenger leave an aircraft if their behaviour is deemed as "disruptive" with cabin crew given the "right to take measures they think reasonable to prevent the passenger from continuing that behaviour".
