A Morehouse professor assisted other passengers in detaining an unruly person on a Delta flight to Atlanta over the weekend.
In a viral recording of the incident, Rashaun Williams, who is also a Morehouse College alum, takes down the aggressive man as other passengers rally to detain him. Williams said his flight or fight response kicked in while detaining the passenger.
“I’m not weighing the pros and cons. I'm not thinking about everyone around me, I'm thinking this guy is having a meltdown in the middle of the sky with all these people on it… and we need to restrain him,” he told CBS 46 in Atlanta.
People aboard the plane said the unruly passenger somehow made his way to the intercom, making alarming announcements.
“The perpetrator was on the intercom and was telling people to get back to their seat because oxygen mask[s] were going to be required of them,” passenger Benjamin Curlee recalled.
Williams, who was sitting next to the man prior to the altercation, expressed that he felt the man was acting odd by their conversation, according to local news station 11 Alive.
“He was exhibiting some weird behavior and asked me a bunch of personal questions: 'What’s your name? What do you do? Where do you live in Atlanta? Can I get your phone number? Do you have a business card?'” Williams described.
Moments later, Williams said the man wrote a note. Then, he went to the rear of the plane and back up to the front before eventually trying to take control of the flight’s PA system. The captain urged men on the plane to help resolve the issue.
“We'd like all strong males to the front of the aircraft to handle a problem passenger,” the captain said in the cell phone video.
The Morehouse professor said that once he was able to wrestle the man to the ground and subdue him, calming him down didn’t take long.
“As soon as I stood up, he’s coming right towards me, facing me. I immediately jump, grabbed his shoulders, pulled his hood over his head, pull him to the ground. Now, I’m holding him on the ground and he’s kicking, someone’s grabbing his feet,” Williams recalled.
“At first he’s screaming and screaming when everyone’s taking him down… And then he’s apologizing after he’s down realizing what’s going on… he had no control over himself,” Williams added.
Investigators later revealed that the man was an off-duty flight attendant. He was later taken into custody once the plane made an emergency landing in Oklahoma City.
The note the man wrote while sitting next to Williams allegedly accused Williams of making threats of terrorism, but the HBCU grad was able to clear his name after speaking with law enforcement.
Williams said he believes the man was having a mental health episode and called on his fellow countrymen to proceed with compassion in similar situations.
“I just think he was having a mental health breakdown. It’s up to us as citizens to invest in our own mental health, to be compassionate with people, and to learn how to diffuse situations with people without it becoming dangerous,” he said.