Passengers restrain disruptive man on American Airlines flight; aircraft diverted to Baltimore

Two passengers on an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Newark intervened when a fellow traveler became violent about two hours into the trip. The man allegedly used profanity and threatened other passengers, prompting the two witnesses, identified as Juan Mejia, a retired law-enforcement officer, and Richard Olenick, to restrain him with duct tape and zip ties supplied by a flight attendant.

"He bit my hand. He didn't break skin, just left teeth marks on my hand. We were covered in his blood," Mejia said.

The pilot subsequently diverted the aircraft to Baltimore, where local police and the FBI met the plane and removed the passenger before the flight continued to its scheduled destination. American Airlines issued a statement emphasizing its zero-tolerance policy for violence and thanking crew and passengers for their cooperation.

Travel expert Peter Greenberg noted that using duct tape and zip ties to secure an unruly passenger is standard protocol when a diversion is required. The two passengers said they were unsure what triggered the behavior but suggested that alcohol might have been a factor, recalling that a flight attendant had limited the passenger to a single drink.