Amateur video shot aboard an American Airlines flight captured the moment the plane’s pilot got into a physical altercation with an allegedly unruly passenger last month.
Recorded on a flight from Lexington, Kentucky to Charlotte, North Carolina on July 21, the video shows the moment the allegedly intoxicated man becomes physical with a flight attendant – prompting the pilot to physically wrestle him to the ground.
“You don’t put your hands on my flight attendant!” the pilot can be heard shouting as he pins the man in the aisle between the seats near the front of the plane.
Passenger Brian Colón recorded the entire incident from his seat. He tells Global News that the incident occurred near the end of the flight as the plane was taxiing towards the gate at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, and the man in question refused to cooperate with flight attendant’s requests.
Appearing agitated and with his speech slurred according to Colon, the man goes to the front of the aircraft where Colon begins to record his confrontation with flight attendants.
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According to police, the pilot and his co-pilot used a seatbelt strap to restrain the man until officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department could arrive to place him under arrest.
The man, later identified as Michael Kerr, 25, was charged with being intoxicated and disruptive, assault on a female, communicating threats and interfering with the duties of a flight crew or attendant according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department arrest records.
Kerr told police he had consumed three drinks of Jack Daniels whiskey during the flight.
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) issued a statement to the Charlotte Observer regarding the incident:
“We have seen an increase in these incidents throughout the industry. The biggest frustration is delays and cancellations, and that has the added problem of people sitting at airports and going to a bar and drinking alcohol. Alcohol is a leading cause of air-rage incidents, as it seems to be in this case.”