American Airlines staff duct tape 11-year-old boy to seat in viral video
This is the latest incident of airline staffers using duct tape to curb an out-of-control passenger.
An 11-year-old child flying American Airlines reportedly became so unruly during the flight that he had to be duct-taped to his seat.
The flight from Maui to Los Angeles was diverted to Honolulu on Tuesday afternoon after the boy got into a physical altercation with his mother and allegedly tried to kick out a window, Business Insider reports.
According to witnesses, the child became disruptive about an hour into the fight and several passengers ultimately helped a staff member duct tape him to his seat.
A video obtained by CBS Los Angeles appears to show the child being restrained. According to the report, no one was injured during the incident. This disruption forced the flight to be diverted to Hawaii’s capital, Honolulu. Once landed, the boy was taken into police custody, according to the report.
The airline confirmed in an emailed statement to theGrio that the incident involved an 11-year-old minor despite reports he was a teenager and that the child was “restrained with flex cuffs.”
“Flight 212 from Kahului Airport, Maui (OGG) to LAX diverted to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, Honolulu (HNL) due to an incident with a passenger on board,” an American Airlines representative said in the statement. “After landing at HNL at 3:47 p.m. (local time), customers were re-accommodated on other flights or provided hotel accommodations. Safety and security is our top priority and we apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this caused.”
The rep noted that “there were no arrests made” and the “family involved was provided hotel accommodations last night.”
This is the latest incident of airline staffers using duct tape to curb an out-of-control passenger. Last month, a flight from Philadelphia to Miami on Frontier Airlines went awry when a 22-year-old man identified by Miami’s Local 10 as Maxwell Berry, of Norwalk, Ohio, became violent and was subsequently duct-taped to a chair.
theGrio reported, Berry had been drinking on the flight and at one point, he spilled alcohol on his shirt and took off the shirt while in the bathroom. A flight attendant reportedly helped him get a new shirt from his luggage.
Berry allegedly groped two female flight attendants’ breasts, cursed at fellow passengers, and attacked a male attendant, Newsweek reports.
The passenger “made inappropriate physical contact with two flight attendants and subsequently physically assaulted another flight attendant,” Frontier confirmed in a statement to USA TODAY.
A now-viral video of the wild scene shows a male flight attendant asking Berry to calm down before he is punched in the face by the passenger.
Berry, who is not wearing a mask, can be heard yelling, “You guys (expletive) suck” and bragging about his family’s wealth.
Flight attendants were ultimately forced to restrain Berry to his seat with duct tape.
“As a result, the passenger needed to be restrained until the flight landed in Miami and law enforcement arrived,” Frontier said in a statement.
Berry was arrested following the incident and charged with three misdemeanor counts of battery, according to multiple reports.
Also in July, a TikTok video showed a woman duct-taped to her seat after she attacked flight attendants and tried to exit the plane during the flight.
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