An unruly flyer was restrained by a fellow passenger after he began dropping racial slurs.
A flight bound for Los Angeles turned into mayhem when a man allegedly began behaving violently towards other passengers, forcing the captain to make an emergency landing.
The row escalated when the man allegedly shouted racial slurs on board the Breeze Airways flight MX704.
Witnesses claimed the tattooed man shouted ‘F-bombs and N-bombs’ while waving his skateboard.
The captain was reportedly forced to make an emergency landing in Colorado after the incident on Wednesday.
Cabin crews tried to restrain him after he swung his skateboard and behaved violently, and he also allegedly threw litter on the plane floor.
Another passenger described the man as ‘this Tony Hawk wannabe from Outer Banks, North Carolina, with a skateboard had too many Bloody Marys this morning.’
Footage shows a flight attendant telling the man – who continues to smile through the altercation – to sit down repeatedly.
Unable to get through to the man, she asks other passengers if anyone could help her use the restraint on the man, Daily Mail reports.
Suddenly, a man named Ray, a 6’6 former American football player in high school, stood up and picked up the unruly man by his armpits.
Ray told the man to ‘sit your a** down’ as the flight attendant and other passengers cheered.
The hero of the plane told ABC that he just wanted to get him to sit down as ‘my son was on there and there were other kids on there.’
He said: ‘Once I heard the flight attendants say “Can somebody help me?” I was just like, I saw black almost, and I just grabbed him and sat him down.’
Jeff Hankerson who was on the dramatic flight, told the outlet: ‘He just got up and sat him down in the seat like a little kid.’
Meanwhile, the captain had diverted the plane from Virginia to LAX to Colorado, adding around double to the normally six-hour journey.
When the plane touched down at Grand Junction in Colorado, police boarded the plane and escorted the man out.
The incident is now being investigated by the FBI.
Police said no reports of assault or injuries to other passengers or crew were logged, according to ABC.
A spokesperson for Breeze Airways told Metro: ‘Breeze flight MX704 with service from Norfolk, Va. (ORF) to Los Angeles (LAX) on Wednesday, August 13, diverted to Grand Junction, Co. (GJT) after a male passenger became physically and verbally threatening to the crew and other guests.
‘The plane was met promptly by local law enforcement officers, who restrained and removed the passenger from the aircraft.
‘The flight was temporarily delayed in GJT while a new crew was brought in to deliver our remaining guests safely to their final destination.
‘Flight 704 departed GJT at approximately 6.15pm MT local time on Wednesday and arrived in LAX at approximately 7.15pm PT.’
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