Passengers tackle man charging cockpit on Honolulu flight

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

 



http://khon.com/khon/displayStory.cfm?storyID=9606

Passengers tackle man charging cockpit on Honolulu flight

Gina Mangieri

A suspect is in federal custody after passengers say he threatened an 
infant and tried to charge the cockpit of an airplane en route to 
Honolulu. No air marshal was aboard, but seven passengers tackled and 
subdued him.

Passengers say the man's strange behavior started just a couple hours 
after Northwest Flight 91 took off from Los Angeles.

"He came up to first class several times, and at one point he really 
startled me... He came up to my left shoulder, and he got right in my 
face and he said something in Spanish -- he said something about 
medicine, like 'I need medicine,'" said passenger Linda Deckard from 
California.

She says the man even gestured threats toward a baby with a cell phone 
cord, and couldn't sit still. But thanks to one father's planning, a 
group of passengers are heroes to nearly 200 people on the flight.

"We got the word around first class that if he makes a move for the 
cockpit door, he's going down," said passenger Mike Deckard. "And that's 
just what happened. He made a move for the cockpit door and we were on 
top of him."

He and six others bound the suspect's hands and feet with a belt and 
cords from an on-board restraint pack.

"I think he's a hero," says Michael Deckard, age 13, about his dad. "I 
think he did a good job. Obviously he's watching a little bit of 
football with that tackle. Go dad!"

"If anybody's wants to try something, remember - there are 200 other 
people on the aircraft who are gonna stop you," Mike Deckard said.

The suspect is a 37-year-old Mexican national. He bit one man who helped 
tackle him -- a Honolulu Marathon runner who had to get a tetanus shot 
when they landed.

Passengers were questioned for a couple of hours after landing. The 
suspect is being held at the federal detention center.

[Index of Archives]         [NTSB]     [NASA KSC]     [Yosemite]     [Steve's Art]     [Deep Creek Hot Springs]     [NTSB]     [STB]     [Share Photos]     [Yosemite Campsites]