A Marine jumped into action to restrain an “unruly” man who tried to open the doors 10 hours into an All Nippon Airways flight traveling from Tokyo to Houston.
Jody Armentrout, a sergeant major who has served in the Marines for over 20 years, noticed a man acting strangely on Saturday’s Flight 114, taking his backpack into each of the plane’s bathrooms back to back.
“He came out of that one and began pacing up and down the aisle, so that just threw my radar on,” Armentrout told NBC News.
Immediately after, the 50-year-old marine noticed the man started to stare at an emergency exit, so he put himself between the man and the door. The passenger then sprinted to the other side of the plane and began trying to open the other emergency door.
“He grabbed a strap around the door, pulled it off, and about that time is when I took him and slammed him, put him on the ground,” Armentrout said. “And then there was an older gentleman sitting on that side that woke up, and he got up and kind of helped me.”
Flight attendants gave Armentrout zip ties to secure the man’s wrists to his seat. Immediately after the incident, the plane was diverted to Seattle.
Armentrout, who is stationed in Japan, said he sat next to the disruptive passenger until the crew made an emergency landing at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
“His eyes – you could definitely tell there was something going on,” Armentrout said.
“I just knew he was up to something crazy, and at the end of the day, I was willing to take the risk of him saying ‘I’m not doing anything’ and then just them making him go sit back down than me allowing him to do anything that’s going to put anybody at risk,” he added.
All Nippon Airways Flight 114 left Haneda Airport Saturday morning for Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport but was forced to land in Seattle when a passenger became “unruly,” the airline said in a statement.
Port of Seattle police confirmed that the man was trying to open exit doors during the flight.
He was having a “medical crisis” on board, police said. He was later taken to the hospital.
The excitement didn’t end there – another passenger was later removed from the plane for punching a bathroom door after becoming “frustrated” over the flight diversion, according to the FBI’s Seattle field office.
No charges have been filed for either passenger as of Tuesday, according to the FBI.
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