A United flight got violent after a passenger reportedly attacked a flight attendant and tried to get into the cockpit. As reported by MSN, the pilot had to declare an emergency to air traffic control.
The incident happened on Saturday, May 2. A 48-year-old man, who has not been named, started a ruckus on United flight 1837. The incident happened at Newark Liberty Airport, New Jersey, at around 6:00 pm local time. The flight was going from Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic, and had just touched down only 40 minutes earlier, at 5:20 pm.
Audio released from the incident shows the airport personnel desperately warning air traffic control. The airport worker radioed to them, "The pilot wants to declare an emergency. It seems someone just attacked one of our flight attendants."
But the air traffic controller didn't seem to grasp the severity of what had happened at first. They responded pretty calmly, saying that they'd "move them in just a sec". Of course, given what had happened, the airport worker knew that more drastic action would need to happen.
So the airport worker interrupted and said, "Can we get emergency vehicles out here? A gentleman just attacked one of the flight attendants and tried to open the forward main cabin door." For the aviationally uninclined, that typically refers to the cockpit.
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The Air Traffic Controller Had a Short But Sweet Response
"Oh my God" was the short and sweet response from the air traffic controller. I don't blame them at all—this is the type of thing they must have nightmares about!
Then, the pilot joined in on the radio ruckus. They said, "We're asking for a gate ASAP, and we need to be met by law enforcement." The pilot continued, "We had someone try to pop our door open."
When law enforcement got there, they immediately picked the suspect up. They then transferred him to a hospital for a psych evaluation, just to check everything was okay. Luckily, no one else was injured, although one person on the plane did deny medical treatment.
What a wild case. We're glad no one was injured.
