Man duct-taped to plane seat after hurling slurs and attacking other passenger, witness says

A passenger aboard a Newark, New Jersey-bound American Airlines flight was duct-taped to his seat on Thursday and later arrested after allegedly hurling racial slurs at staff and fighting with another man. The passenger was “thrashing around” in his seat as the flight crew and other passengers tried to restrain him at the rear of the first-class cabin, according to witness Michelle Ng-Reyes.

A passenger aboard a Newark, New Jersey-bound American Airlines flight was duct-taped to his seat on Thursday and later arrested after allegedly hurling racial slurs at staff and fighting with another man.

The passenger was “thrashing around” in his seat as the flight crew and other passengers tried to restrain him at the rear of the first-class cabin, according to witness Michelle Ng-Reyes.

“I think he hurt himself and was bleeding on the seat and apparently was assaulting the man sitting next to him, who was another man dressed in a suit,” Ng-Reyes told NBC New York. “The three men that were holding him down were saying things like, ‘Stop moving, please stop yelling, just sit down.’”

A video obtained by TMZ shows the effort to restrain him.

Ng-Reyes, who was seated near an air marshal, said other passengers heard the man direct racially offensive remarks at the man sitting next to him.