The Aporia · Man duct-taped to plane seat after hurling slurs and attacking other passenger, witness says

Man duct-taped to plane seat after hurling slurs and attacking other passenger, witness says

Read the original at NBC News ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

York, N. N. (2026, September 5). Man duct-taped to plane seat after hurling slurs and attacking other passenger, witness says. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-duct-taped-airline-seat-hurling-racist-slurs-rcna596231

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

A passenger on an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Newark, New Jersey was duct-taped to his seat after allegedly using racial slurs at staff and attacking another passenger, according to witness Michelle Ng-Reyes. The incident occurred on Thursday and the plane was diverted to Baltimore, where the passenger was removed from the plane and taken into custody by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. No details are provided about the passenger's identity or current status, but the FBI is conducting interviews and may file federal charges. The flight, which was originally scheduled to land in Newark 3.5 hours after takeoff, was delayed for roughly five hours due to the diversion.

Written by AI on 2026-09-06, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Arthur Lundeen, a 67-year-old man from Tucson, Arizona, was restrained with duct tape to his seat on an American Airlines flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Newark after he allegedly became violent and hurled racial slurs at a flight attendant. The incident occurred about two hours into the flight, which was diverted to Baltimore due to Lundeen's behavior. Witnesses, including Juan Mejia, a retired law enforcement officer, and Richard Olenick, restrained Lundeen with zip ties and duct tape until authorities could board the plane and take him into custody. Lundeen was later released on his own recognizance after waiving his right to an attorney in court. He was subsequently fired from his job as a real estate agent at Long Realty in Tucson, citing the company's zero-tolerance policy for such behavior.

Written for “Passenger Incident on Flight” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 4 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

31%

5 of 16 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

Centre

of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate

Publisher signals

60/100

NBC News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Crime & Law

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-06 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

NBC News · 1965 article(s) · 1 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 1 correction(s)

2026-10-29

Manhunt grows for escaped murderer who may have left area where truck was ditched

Who wrote this

NBC New York

1 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 “They had to physically restrain him ’cause they were worried he might try to go into the cockpit or something, which is obviously pretty scary,” she said.

2026-09-05 · mixed framing · Man duct-taped to plane seat after hurling slurs and attacking other passenger, witness says

The only article under this byline in the corpus.

Topics

American Airlines Baltimore FBI Newark U.S.

Subjects

Ng-Reyes PERSON · 4× American Airlines ORG · 2× Baltimore ORG · 2× FBI ORG · 2× Newark GPE · 2× U.S. GPE · 2× Michelle Ng-Reyes PERSON · 1× NBC ORG · 1× New Jersey GPE · 1× TMZ ORG · 1×

Narrative

The flight was scheduled to land in Newark 3 1/2 hours after takeoff, Ng-Reyes said, but the diversion and delay stretched the trip to roughly eight hours. “The safety and security of our customers and team members is our top priority and we do not tolerate violence,” American Airlines said in a statement.

framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-06

🔮 “They had to physically restrain him ’cause they were worried he might try to go into the cockpit or something, which is obviously pretty scary,” she said.

2026-09-06 · NBC News

Man duct-taped to plane seat after hurling slurs and attacking other passenger, witness says · mixed framing

Claims (16 extracted, 5 hedged)

A passenger aboard a Newark, New Jersey-bound American Airlines flight was duct-taped to his seat on Thursday and later arrested after allegedly hurling racial slurs at staff and fighting with another man. uncertain

passenger → bind → man

The passenger was “thrashing around” in his seat as the flight crew and other passengers tried to restrain him at the rear of the first-class cabin, according to witness Michelle Ng-Reyes. uncertain

crew → thrash → Reyes

“I think he hurt himself and was bleeding on the seat and apparently was assaulting the man sitting next to him, who was another man dressed in a suit,” Ng-Reyes told NBC New York. asserted

Reyes → think → suit

“The three men that were holding him down were saying things like, ‘Stop moving, please stop yelling, just sit down.’” asserted

that → hold → things

A video obtained by TMZ shows the effort to restrain him. asserted

video → obtain → him

Ng-Reyes, who was seated near an air marshal, said other passengers heard the man direct racially offensive remarks at the man sitting next to him. asserted

man → seat → him

He also appeared to target his fury at flight attendants who were Black, Ng-Reyes said. asserted

Reyes → appear → attendants

“They had to physically restrain him ’cause they were worried he might try to go into the cockpit or something, which is obviously pretty scary,” she said. uncertain

she → have → cockpit

The flight, which originated in Dallas, was diverted to Baltimore, where the passenger was removed from the plane and taken into custody, officials said. asserted

officials → originate → custody

His name has not been released. asserted

name → release → ?

He was arrested by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, according to a statement from the the FBI’s Baltimore field office. uncertain

He → arrest → office

The agency did not respond to a request for comment on the matter and it’s unclear whether the man remains in custody. uncertain

man → respond → custody

“The FBI is currently conducting interviews to gather the facts and will consult with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland to determine if federal charges will be filed,” the statement said. asserted

statement → conduct → Maryland

A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment. asserted

spokesperson → decline → office

Airlines → schedule → statement

“We thank our team members for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding.” asserted

We → thank → understanding