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March 26, 2023 | 12:37 a.m
A passenger on a Delta Airlines flight departing from LAX decided to open an emergency exit door and activate the slide before takeoff Saturday morning. Gillian Sheldon/Twitter
A Delta Airlines passenger on a flight out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) was arrested Saturday supposedly open an emergency exit door onboard the aircraft and causes the aircraft’s evacuation slide to activate prior to takeoff.
According to Los Angeles airport police, around 10 a.m. EST, an unidentified passenger wearing a red and navy blue striped sweater and black pants rushed to the front of the plane as the plane pushed away from the gate and asked after the flight attendants, ” What do I do now?”
passengers told FOX 11 that the flight attendant insisted the man sit, but he ran from the Delta Air Lines flight attendant and walked to the plane’s emergency exit doors, turned the latch, opened the door, and slid down the deployed evacuation slide.
The plane was forced to stop, and passengers told FOX 11 that the man jumped into the back of a baggage cart, where baggage workers held him until LAX police got there.
Police were quick to the scene after the man exited the flight early, and the FBI had been contacted. Gillian Sheldon/Twitter
“He will be taken to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation,” said Sgt. Devin Feldman.
Los Angeles Airport Police said the FBI had been briefed on the incident.
“The airport police responded and arrested the passenger for further investigation. Due to the circumstances, the FBI has been notified,” Los Angeles Airport Police said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Police interview airport staff while investigating the incident at LAX on Saturday morning.Gillian Sheldon/Twitter
“Delta Flight 1714, operating from Los Angeles to Seattle, returned to the gate because of a recalcitrant passenger. The plane was waiting to taxi for takeoff when the passenger exited the plane and was first apprehended by Delta employees before being apprehended by local law enforcement.” Delta Air Lines said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Customers will be rebooked on a new aircraft and we apologize for the inconvenience and delay in their travel plans.”
“Delta was great. The flight attendants were fantastic,” said Gillian Sheldon, who was on the plane. She told FOX 11 that the whole thing happened so quickly that no one had time to react.
“You always tell yourself when you see these things on TV that I would have done this or that, but honestly it was so quick there was no way to react,” she said. “I’m just glad it didn’t happen when we were midair otherwise it would have been a very different result.”
After the incident, passengers on the Delta Air Lines plane were escorted off the plane and transferred to another plane. The flight was en route from LAX to Seattle, Washington and according to FlightAware.com, the flight was delayed 3 hours due to the incident.
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