A United Airlines passenger had to be restrained by other passengers after he attacked a flight attendant and then tried to jump out of the emergency exit, ABC7 reported.
Naya Jimenez, who shot video of the incident, said that the passenger was angry because she asked his wife, and then him, to move out of her assigned seat.
At one point in the video, the man appears to punch a flight attendant multiple times as the flight was due to take off for a journey between San Francisco and Houston Sunday, according to the report.
"They had to bring in a gate attendant to try to talk to both of them," she said. "Then, he began slurring his speech a little bit.
"After he paused for a minute, he ran toward where the pilot was, where the emergency exit doors are, and attempted to open it. (He) successfully opened the emergency exit and was about to jump down," she said, "The plane is elevated, so he would have jumped apparently two stories to the ground, and the flight attendants just kicked in, and everybody pulled him back to safety."
In a statement to ABC7, United said: "On Sunday night, our team at San Francisco International Airport immediately contacted law enforcement officials after a customer became disruptive during boarding. We're grateful to our team in San Francisco for their professionalism in this situation and for looking out for the safety of our customers and their fellow United employees."
Watch the video below or at this link:
Man punches United employee on flight to Houston, video showswww.youtube.com
