Shocked Passengers Describe The Scene As Man Turns Unruly, Forces Emergency Landing In Albuquerque
NEW YORK (CBS)
A US Airways flight made an emergency landing in Albuquerque, N.M. on Tuesday after a passenger decided to strip naked, CBS station WCBS-TV reported.
Passengers said it was a sight to see. Cell phone pictures taken from inside the plane showed a passenger, identified as Keith Wright from the Bronx, sitting naked in his seat near the rear of the plane.
Flight 705, bound from Charlotte to Los Angeles, was forced to make an emergency stop in Albuquerque when flight attendants failed to get the man under control.
"I fell asleep and the ladies fell asleep and I woke up and I turned and she was gone and I was like oh my gosh, this guy is naked!" passenger Lynette Naude said.
"One of the flight attendants tried to get the guy to respond, but she got nothing. But then when they tried to cover the guy up, get his clothes back on he started getting physically aggressive," one passenger said.
Passengers said the naked man started to flip out.
"We actually had to physically hold him down on the floor and um, handcuff his ankles, his wrists," said Matt McGinnis, who, along with a Los Angeles Police officer and an L.A. sheriff's deputy, helped restrain the man.
Airport Police Chief Marshall Katz had a theory as to why the man behaved as he did.
"He had some alcohol at the origin airport and was on medication but didn't take it and perhaps a combination of not taking medication and perhaps the alcohol and the altitude have impacted his usual behavior," Katz said.
