A 22-year-old passenger on American airline Frontier was seen duct-taped and restrained to his seat on a flight in the United States for being a violent and unruly passenger. This was the latest of a a reported upward trend of violent passengers reacting masking rules on United States local flights.
A flight attendant was seen in another video of the same flight wrapping duct tape around the passenger’s chair, while he struggled. The passenger has been identified as Maxwell Berry, and accused of sexually assaulting two female flight attendants and punching another one, aside from verbally harassing them. He was on a flight from Philadelphia to Miami.
What happened to Maxwell Berry?
According to online reports, the incidents happened on a Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami, all caught on mobile phone video. The incident was spread over several different videos.
The start of the harassment and violence happened after Maxwell had several drinks onboard the flight. He first had two drinks then ordered another one.
He brushed a cup against a female flight attendant’s backside, and later on spilled his drink on himself. He went to the restroom and took off his shirt, then emerged shirtless. A flight attendant assisted him in getting a shirt from his carry-on. He then began to walk around the flight, and touched the breasts of two female fight attendants.
After that, he was told to return to his seat and to remain there. A male flight attendant was sent to his row to watch Berry, and that was when the verbal abuse began. Berry shouted at the flight attendant and eventually stood up to punch the latter.
Berry said that he was the son of millionaires and hurled expletives as the male flight attendant.
Another video of the flight showed the male attendant circling Berry with duct tape. Berry’s mouth was taped as well, and he was struggling. In the background you could hear the rest of the passengers clapping.
Later, another video featured Berry still restrained with duct tape over his mouth. He could be seen in the video asking for help.
What happened after the flight?
Police arrested Berry when the Frontier flight landed. They said that he was charged with three counts of battery.
The airline initially said that the attendants involved in the incident were put on leave pending an investigation into the matter. The flight worker union then issued a statement later that said the airline had to side with their employees. The airline then later said that the attendants were put on paid leave, and that its management was not aware of the full events.
Not the first incident of duct taping
An earlier report in July mentioned a woman who was also duct-taped to her seat on a local US flight. The woman was said to be suffering a mental breakdown and demanded to be let off the plane. This lead to her attempting to open one of the plane doors–at which point the flight attendants had to restrain her.
Passengers were said to have witnessed a bit of panic during the flight, but eventually found out that the woman had to be duct-taped to a seat to prevent her from jeopardizing the safety of the flight.
She also reportedly bit a flight attendant during her mental breakdown episode.
According to reports, some American airline companies have started stocking plastic handcuffs on their planes, with others like Frontier and American Airlines keeping duct tape in stock for incidents like this.
