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A viral video caught the moment a flight attendant had to restrain a screaming passenger who was having a “violent medical episode” while latching onto a woman’s hair.
The incident occurred on a domestic US flight from Oakland, California, to Portland on 1 February. The plane never actually made it into the air as the incident occurred just before take off, and the flight was then cancelled.
The alarming video shows a male flight attendant onboard the Embraer 175 appearing to pummel a man repeatedly who had the hair of another passenger in his grasp.
“Let go of her hair,” someone shouts out to the passenger as the flight attendant appears to pound the man with his fist, trying to make him release his grasp from the hair, while another person behind him attempts to pry his fingers away from the hair strands.
The flight attendant simultaneously pushes the man’s head back into the plane seat, seemingly trying to keep him in place.
Once the woman’s hair is released, she turns around towards the man with a frightened look on her face, and gets up from her seat immediately.
The flight attendant keeps a hand on the man’s shoulders, who starts to hyperventilate and then lets out a scream.
As the man continues to scream, the flight attendant looks around and asks for another “capable male” to come help him.
Alaska Airlines said in a statement to the Daily Mail that the male passenger “appeared to be experiencing a violent medical episode that involved an ongoing physical assault against other passengers and our crew”.
It continued: “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,” the airline said, adding that the “guest in question has been banned from Alaska and Horizon due to the nature of the physical assault”.
A social media user who said he was on the flight when it happened claimed that the outburst occurred when the flight was about to take off “but this dude started saying weird stuff and rocking back and forth”.
“A flight attendant was called then he grabbed the woman’s hair in front of him and wouldn’t let go so the flight attendant started punching him in the throat,” the passenger added.
“He was restrained for several minutes before being arrested,” he continued. “The flight was cancelled after an attendant refused to fly and could not be replaced.”
Flight tracking data shows that the flight was cancelled, with the next Alaska Airlines flight from Oakland to Portland departing the following day.
The Independent has contacted Alaska Airlines for further comment.
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