An Alaska Airlines passenger is facing criminal charges after going on a frightening rant that left fellow passengers terrified for their life.
According to the Seattle Times, the incident occurred on Saturday around 11 p.m., shortly after the flight took off from Seattle headed to Chicago. “The man became extremely belligerent and physically aggressive during the ascent,” Ray Lane, external communications manager for Alaska Airlines, shared in an e-mail to the outlet.
Video from the encounter shows the man walking through the aisle with a mask, demanding that those on board “accept that Jesus was a Black man.” The disturbed passenger, who does not appear to be Black, threatened that he would kill everybody on board if they did not make the confession.
“I will kill everybody. Accept it. Die in the name of Jesus!” he yelled.
Moments after the clip starts rolling, he was restrained by the flight crew, two passengers and a law enforcement officer, according to the Times. One of the men working to restrain him can be heard shouting, “Get in the chair and stay down!” as the man continued to shout “Jesus is a Black man!” and “die in the name of Jesus!”
The man is said to have been unarmed, but several passengers were clearly upset by the manner in which he was behaving. Cries and screams can be heard coming from the fairly crowded flight as one of the men trying to subdue the aggressor work to calm fears by stating that everything will be okay.
“We are going to be making a landing at the nearest possible airport, a member of the flight crew announces once the man has been restricted. “We have everything under control.”
In a statement shared with USA Today, Lane added that the flight returned safely to the Seattle airport, where law enforcement was waiting to take the passenger into custody. That particular flight was canceled and guests were rebooked.
The man in question was booked into the King County Jail on a harassment charge. The motivation behind his behavior remains unclear.