PHOENIX — Leon Jimenez is enjoying retirement. He was on his way to his vacation home in Colombia when, 30 minutes into the flight from LAX, he said another passenger freaked out and began arguing with flight attendants.
“I look back and I see five flight attendants trying to keep a guy with his bag from going forward and he is having nothing of it,” said Jimenez.
The 58-year-old said his instincts kicked in. He has trained in mixed martial arts and started negotiating with the passenger.
“He said that I have to get off. We haven’t taken off. I can see we haven’t taken off. I’m going now. He’s feeling like a caged animal. He’s in full-on flight mode,” said Jimenez.
That is when he said the flight attendants and the captain gave him permission to put the passenger into a chokehold to restrain him from opening the airplane door.
“We immediately put him into the seat that was right there and we tied him up with a couple of the demonstrators, the seat belt extenders,” said Jimenez.
Unruly passengers soaring
The Federal Aviation Administration has seen a sharp rise in unruly passengers this year and investigates incidents reported to the agency. In a typical year, the FAA sees between 100 and 150 investigations.
As of July, the FAA has seen 3,420 reports of unruly passengers leading to 555 investigations. In 2020, there were 183 investigations.
Jimenez said he sat next to the passenger until they returned to LAX and airport police and federal officials took over.
“He’s not a bad kid, he just had a panic attack and I hope the authorities see that,” said Jimenez.
12 News reached out to LAX Airport Police for details into the investigation and have not heard back.
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