Seat Poacher Refuses to Return Seat, Gets Handcuffed to Wheelchair
Jackie Reddy July 30, 2019
An American Airlines passenger became verbally aggressive with staff over his assigned seat and was taken off the plane by police, who handcuffed him to a wheelchair. The incident, involving a man named as Peter, was captured on film by a fellow traveler on Monday on an LA-bound flight from Dallas.
An American Airlines passenger who became verbally aggressive with staff over his assigned seat was taken off of a recent service from Dallas to Los Angeles by police, who then handcuffed him to a wheelchair, The Daily Mail reports. According to Fox News, the incident occurred on Monday on American Airlines Flight 2460.
The incident involving the male passenger, who has been named only as Peter, was caught on film by fellow traveler John Gilbert.
The outlet reports that Peter, who had been given a seat in the back of the plane, moved to a different seat directly behind the flight’s first-class section. He reportedly would not move when the traveler allocated to that seat attempted to sit down.
Footage of the incident, as taken by Gilbert and shared via the outlet, shows Peter becoming verbally aggressive with members of the flight. He is heard to shout, “Don’t force me. Don’t violate my freedom. That’s my seat. You don’t like it. Switch it and I’ll stay on the plane and I’ll go.”
Despite being warned over his language, he continued to shout at crew. Peter was then told that, unless he sat in his assigned seat, he would be taken off of the flight.
The man declined to follow instructions from cabin crew and passengers deplaned while police were summoned as a result of the incident. Four officers eventually removed Peter from the flight, handcuffing him to a wheelchair and taking him off of the plane. He can be seen struggling with police as he is removed.
The flight’s departure was delayed by about 45 minutes.
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[Image: YouTube/ WFAA]
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give this nut job the boot .... for life.
m44, I suggest you take your flaming elsewhere. It does not belong on a travel forum where respect for fellow posters is expected.
Deplaning would have happened to ensure the safety of the other passengers. When you are dealing with a clearly irrational person who refuses to follow all instructions -- and when you have no idea what the person's state of mind is -- then you don't want anyone else around when police armed with tasers and firearms become involved. When you are deplaning everybody there is also a chance -- you have no idea how big, though -- that the disturbed person will follow the other passengers off the plane because an automatic reaction might kick in: "Everybody's leaving the plane, I always leave the plane when everybody disembarks, so I'll get off as well" and the situation would be defused without the potential of violence. That could work sometimes, but clearly it will depend on the individual. In any case, you've now got your other passengers away from a potentially dangerous situation. `
@m44: it is possible that the "sfo" in sfoeuroflyer places him on the side of the pond where A-Holes like you get a special form of treatment for their nasty hateful attitude! And by the way, sfoeuroflyer's suggestion for a form of punishment for the seat bandit sounded a lot more appropriate and certainly a lot more civilized than your barbaric suggestion! Cheers!
htb, ???????????