Disruptive passenger duct-taped to first-class seat as plane makes emergency landing

Courtesy Richard Olenick

A disruptive passenger was restrained with flexible handcuffs and duct-taped to a seat as his flight was diverted to make an emergency landing in Baltimore Thursday night, photos and video from other passengers showed.

Richard Olenick and Juan Mejia were more than halfway through the flight when a man two rows behind them in the first-class section started to become belligerent, Olenick said.

American Airlines Flight 618 was traveling from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport to Newark when the crew reported the passenger disturbance, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

A flight attendant tried to control the situation but the man got increasingly agitated, started to hit the passenger next to him and then hit a woman who tried to intervene, Olenick said.

Upon seeing things turn physical, Mejia, who is a retired New Jersey police officer, got up and Olenick followed.

“He was starting to become abusive and started using profanity,” Olenick said. The man also used “racial and homophobic slurs,” according to both Olenick and Mejia.

A flight attendant gave Olenick, Mejia and a third person a ziptie, which they used to restrain the man’s wrists as he told them to “Get off me.”

The man then bit Mejia and attempted to bite Olenick, which prompted the three men to start using duct tape from a flight attendant to restrain him, both men said. Following Mejia’s advice, Olenick said they made sure not to put tape over the man’s mouth so he wouldn’t have issues breathing.

“Physically it lessened his ability to move for sure, but it did not solve the issue. He was still pushing and resisting and trying to get up,” Olenick said.

“The safety ​and ​security ​of our customers ​and team members ​is our top ​priority and ​we ​do not ​tolerate violence,” American Airlines said in a statement. “We thank our ​team members for ​their ​professionalism ​and ​our customers ​for ​their ​understanding.”

For the next 15 minutes, Olenick sat on the restrained passenger’s lap until the plane made its emergency landing in Maryland. Olenick attempted to sit back in his seat at one point, but he had to quickly return “because the man started acting up again,” Olenick said.

The 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks next week was already on both of their minds, Olenick said, making the situation even more concerning.

“Juan being a being a cop, he lost people. I was probably three miles from it when it happened, so it’s a very sensitive time and then this guy starts, you know, pulling this stuff,” Olenick said.

The Maryland Transportation Authority Police met the plane after it safely landed at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and arrested one man on state charges, an FBI statement said. Officials did not name the man.

After the passenger was removed, the flight continued on its way to Newark, Olenick said.

“We don’t know exactly what happened, what triggered it,” Olenick added. “But whatever it was, it was pretty intense.”

Duct tape and flexible handcuffs are found on many commercial planes for use in restraining violent or disruptive passengers.

In 2024, a passenger who tried to force open a door and injured a flight attendant while flying from Milwaukee to Dallas was duct-taped to his seat.

There have been more than 1,160 unruly passenger incidents reported so far this year, according to the FAA.

Besides criminal penalties, the agency can pursue fines of more than $43,000 against any passenger who “assaults, threatens, intimidates, or interferes with airline crew members.”

承蒙理查德·奥莱尼克惠允

周四晚间，一架航班被迫改道在巴尔的摩紧急降落，一名扰乱秩序的乘客被戴上手铐并用胶带绑在座位上，其他乘客拍摄的照片和视频显示了这一情况。

理查德·奥莱尼克说，他和胡安·梅希亚的飞行已经过半，这时头等舱里坐在他们后面两排的一名男子开始变得好斗。

美国联邦航空管理局在一份声明中表示，美国航空 618 号航班从达拉斯沃斯堡国际机场飞往纽瓦克途中，机组人员报告了乘客骚乱事件。

奥莱尼克说，一名空乘人员试图控制局面，但该男子越来越激动，开始殴打他旁边的乘客，然后又殴打了一名试图阻止他的女子。

眼见事态发展到肢体冲突，身为新泽西州退休警察的梅希亚起身离开，奥莱尼克也跟着起身。

奥莱尼克说：“他开始变得粗鲁无礼，还说脏话。”奥莱尼克和梅希亚都表示，这名男子还使用了“种族歧视和恐同的侮辱性语言”。

一名空乘人员给了奥列尼克、梅希亚和第三个人一根扎带，他们用扎带绑住了这名男子的手腕，而这名男子则告诉他们“放开我”。

据两人所述，该男子随后咬了梅希亚，并试图咬奥莱尼克，这促使三人开始使用空乘人员提供的胶带将其制服。奥莱尼克说，他们听从了梅希亚的建议，确保没有用胶带封住该男子的嘴，以免他呼吸困难。

奥莱尼克说：“从生理上看，这确实削弱了他的行动能力，但这并没有解决问题。他仍然在挣扎、反抗，试图站起来。”

美国航空公司在一份声明中表示：“保障乘客和团队成员的安全是我们的首要任务，我们绝不容忍任何暴力行为。我们感谢团队成员的专业精神，也感谢乘客的理解。”

接下来的15分钟里，奥莱尼克一直坐在被束缚的乘客腿上，直到飞机在马里兰州紧急降落。奥莱尼克一度试图坐回自己的座位，但他不得不迅速返回，“因为那人又开始闹腾了，”奥莱尼克说。

奥莱尼克说，下周就是9·11恐怖袭击事件25周年纪念日，他们俩都对此心存疑虑，这使得情况更加令人担忧。

“胡安身为警察，他失去了亲人。事发时我可能离现场三英里远，所以那是一个非常敏感的时期，然后这个人就开始，你知道的，搞出这种事，”奥莱尼克说。

据联邦调查局声明，马里兰州交通管理局警方在飞机安全降落在巴尔的摩/华盛顿瑟古德·马歇尔国际机场后，逮捕了一名男子，并以州级罪名对其提起诉讼。官方并未透露该男子的姓名。

奥莱尼克说，乘客被带走后，航班继续飞往纽瓦克。

奥莱尼克补充说：“我们不清楚究竟发生了什么，是什么引发了这件事。但无论是什么，场面都非常激烈。”

许多商用飞机上都配备了胶带和弹性手铐，用于约束有暴力倾向或扰乱秩序的乘客。

2024 年，一名乘客在从密尔沃基飞往达拉斯的航班上试图强行打开舱门，导致一名空乘人员受伤，随后被用胶带绑在了座位上。

据美国联邦航空管理局 (FAA) 报告，今年迄今为止已发生超过 1160 起乘客不守规矩事件。

除了刑事处罚外，该机构还可以对任何“攻击、威胁、恐吓或干扰航空公司机组人员”的乘客处以超过 43,000 美元的罚款。