A wild scene broke out on an Alaska Airlines flight when a flight attendant had to physically step in and fight off a man attacking a woman.
A man suddenly grabs a woman’s hair before takeoff
The guy was having some kind of “violent medical episode,” and things escalated fast. A video of the whole thing instantly went viral.
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At first, people were telling him to let go of her
Right before takeoff from Oakland on Feb. 1, a man sitting behind a woman suddenly yanked her hair and won’t let her go.
“Let go of her hair!” someone in the cabin yelled as the flight attendant jumped in, trying to pry the man’s grip off her. But the guy wouldn’t budge.
A flight attendant comes to the rescue
That’s when the flight attendant started throwing punches—aiming for his throat and torso—until the man finally loosened his grip. Other passengers quickly helped the terrified woman move away from the aisle.
Right as the flight attendant is restraining him, the passenger gives him an earful
The flight attendant held the man back, pushing his face away as he started howling like an animal.
Things were getting out of control, so the flight attendant had to call for backup
Realizing he couldn’t handle this alone, the flight attendant called for backup. “Another capable male,” he said, asking for help to keep the guy from lashing out at anyone else.
A witness described the passenger’s behavior as ‘strange’
According to someone who posted the video on X, the man had already been acting strange before the attack, mumbling weird things and rocking back and forth in his seat.
The flight attendant and passengers joined forces, restraining the assailant
With the help of a few passengers, the flight attendant managed to restrain him until the police showed up.
The plane turned back to the gate
The plane had to turn back to the gate at Oakland Airport, where officers took the man into custody.
The whole flight ended up getting canceled.
Alaska Airlines confirmed the incident and BANNED the passenger
Alaska Airlines later confirmed that the incident happened on one of their flights and praised the flight attendant for acting so quickly. The airline also announced that the man was permanently banned.
“He appeared to be experiencing a violent medical episode that involved an ongoing physical assault against other passengers and our crew,” the company said in a statement.
The case was later described as a ‘violent medical episode’
They added, “Our flight attendants’ highest responsibility is the safety of guests and crew on board. Our crew responded to this chaotic situation quickly and kept all guests safe until law enforcement could intervene.”
“As of now, the guest in question has been banned from Alaska and Horizon due to the nature of the physical assault.”