FBI: Soccer team members help subdue man on flight

[yogib37 3]

OKLAHOMA CITY – An American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles was diverted to Oklahoma City on Friday after a passenger stripped nude and later tried to open an emergency exit door before being subdued by members of a professional soccer team and others, the FBI said.

Members of the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer were among those who grabbed the passenger near an exit door, FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said. Tie wraps were placed on the man, whose name was not immediately released. He was taken into custody in Oklahoma City and placed under psychiatric evaluation, Johnson said.

American Flight 725, a Boeing 757, arrived in Oklahoma City at 1:35 p.m. CDT and was back in the air an hour later, said American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith. It landed without further incident at Los Angeles International Airport at 3:13 p.m. PDT.

Craig Tornberg, the soccer team’s general manager, said he confronted the man as soon as he saw him emerge naked from one of the plane’s restrooms.

“I said he should get back into the bathroom and put on his clothes,” Tornberg said after the plane landed in Los Angeles. “He said something strange to me. He said, ‘I don’t hear you. I don’t see you.’ ”

Tornberg said the man complied and got dressed but a few minutes later “made a beeline for the emergency door.”

Tornberg said he, assistant coach Gwynne Williams and Michael Burns, the team’s vice president for player personnel, grabbed the man and forced him into a seat while a flight attendant tied him up.

“It was strange, but when he put his hands on the exit door – that brought it to another level,” Burns said. “Clearly, he wasn’t thinking straight.”

The pilot diverted the flight to Will Rogers World Airport where the man was removed.

“He was taken into custody by the Oklahoma City Police Department and taken to a crisis center for a mental evaluation,” Johnson said.

Shortly before the incident, Tornberg said he saw the man, described as clean-cut and in his early 20s, crying and “talking a lot of gibberish.”

The soccer team was on its way to Southern California for a game on Sunday against Chivas USA at California State University, Fullerton. Its members were among 151 passengers and seven crew members on the flight.

As passengers left the plane in Los Angeles, several indicated they had taken the incident in stride.

Gillian Callaghan, who was traveling with her 12-year-old son, said she never panicked because the flight crew seemed to keep things well under control. She said she felt sorry for the man.

“He was just having some troubles, confused, not a scary guy,” she said.

___

Associated Press writer Raquel Maria Dillon in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

Edited July 19, 2008 by yogib37

[Niels Bohr 72]

ROFL

[Nagishkaw 510]

[alienlovechild 75]

An American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles

Shortly before the incident, Tornberg said he saw the man, described as clean-cut and in his early 20s, crying and “talking a lot of gibberish.”

Fits the profile of an Obama supporter.

Edited July 19, 2008 by alienlovechild

[Amby 490]

#######?

[yogib37 3]

An American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles

Shortly before the incident, Tornberg said he saw the man, described as clean-cut and in his early 20s, crying and “talking a lot of gibberish.”

Fits the profile of an Obama supporter.

How can you connect that to being a Obama supporter?

[Peikko 1,575]

People who suppport Barack Obama talk gibberish of course. It's a completely purile thing to say, but why not?

Edited July 19, 2008 by Purple_Hibiscus

[yogib37 3]

People who suppport Barack Obama talk gibberish of course. It's a completely purile thing to say, but why not?

even if the person in the story said something else, then they would say Obama supporters would speak that.

McCain and his supporters speak crapish, and this person who did that seems more like a McCain supporter because he is a mental case.

McCain is close to losing his marbles. It happens in OLD AGE

[Peikko 1,575]

I think the poster intended it to be amusing, a sort of, hahaha, that's the profile of an Obama supporter, young, crying (so 'in touch with his feminin side', how liberal) and then the but talking ####### to cap it off.

However, as this isn't really appropriate to this kind of story, well one can only assume the poster hasn't quite finished his beer drinking session and his judgement is still up the left.

[Sassy1natl 0]

However, as this isn't really appropriate to this kind of story, well one can only assume the poster hasn't quite finished his beer drinking session and his judgement is still up the left.

Or at least that is the excuse that was given last night for his/her tirade.

[alienlovechild 75]

I think the poster intended it to be amusing, a sort of, hahaha, that's the profile of an Obama supporter, young, crying (so 'in touch with his feminin side', how liberal) and then the but talking ####### to cap it off.

Another Rhodes Scholar busted.

[Ban Hammer 13,622]

An American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles

Shortly before the incident, Tornberg said he saw the man, described as clean-cut and in his early 20s, crying and “talking a lot of gibberish.”

Fits the profile of an Obama supporter.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Go Revolution!!!

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

CHIVAS!! CHIVAS!! CHIVAS!! CHIVAS!! CHIVAS!!

oh, wait a minute, they just had their ####### handed to them last night.

Daniel

p.s. they should have kicked this nut case right in the nuts. a penalty kick so to speak.