‘Absolutely Terrified’: Passengers Restrain Man As He Screams, Punches Plane Window Until It Shatters; Frontier Airlines Refuses to Press Charges
Cellphone video captured the moments when several passengers on a Frontier Airlines flight restrained a man after he began lashing out on the plane and started repeatedly punching a window.
The outburst reportedly happened on a Tuesday night flight to Houston, Texas, from Denver, Colorado.
About 20 minutes into the flight, the disruption began after the man tried speaking to a woman in the row ahead of him, but she didn’t respond, according to Fox26, citing police reports.
That’s when he reportedly started punching the seat in front of him and the plane window in his row.
At one point, several male passengers took him down to suppress his outburst and used zip ties and shoelaces to restrain him. They got him back in his seat, where he quietly remained for the rest of the flight.
Footage shows several people onboard holding the man down in the aisle next to a row with a shattered and bloodied plane window.
“He was screaming in multiple languages, punching at the window, lying back, and trying to kick it out,” passenger Tanner Phillips told ABC News. “It took a couple of guys to get his arms secured.”
Other witnesses also recounted what happened and their reactions. Some thought he might have been suffering a mental health crisis.
“It was absolutely chaotic. The most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through,” passenger Jessica Brown told Fox26. ” … 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.”
“I was absolutely terrified. I didn’t really know what to think. I didn’t know what was going to happen to all of us. I was really concerned for my dad, because he’s very brave for wanting to do that,” 13-year-old Chloe Starcevic said.
Reports have not revealed how the cabin crew responded to the situation.
Houston Police were called to George Bush Intercontinental Airport, where the flight landed safely, and questioned the man, who has not been identified. Frontier Airlines reportedly declined to press charges.