A Major League Baseball player is being recognized for stepping in and helping to subdue an unruly passenger on a flight to Chile.
Latroy Hawkins, a right-hander for the New York Mets, took to Instagram to say that he helped an American Airlines flight attendant who got into a wrestling match with a rowdy passenger who was upset with his seat. He posted a photo and said "These 2 studs had to subdue a guy on our flight from DFW to Santiago Chile. Escorted him off the plane after we made an emergency landing in Peru. Long nite with a crazy passenger..."
Hawkins was on Flight 945 from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Santiago on Sunday when the incident took place. However due to the passenger's behavior, the flight was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Lima, Peru. He was put in the custody of police.
Hawkins further explained the situation to the New York Daily News, saying "We had to subdue a guy who was upset about not being able to sit in an open seat in business class. He and flight attendant started wrestling and fell into my lap. The (flight attendant) said he needed help."
An American Airlines spokesperson confirmed the unscheduled stop." They were noncompliant, unruly, which happens on occasion. And when it does, sometimes we'll divert a flight. For the safety of everybody on board, it's much easier just to get that individual off the plane. And that's what we did and turned it over to local law enforcement, and then the flight continued on," the spokesman told ESPN.
Hawkins was on his way to Chile for a hunting trip with friends Rodney Carter and Leonard Whittenberg.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
