Fellow Passengers Tackle Man as Plane Lands at LAX
Updated 6:31 PM PST, Wed, Jan 7, 2009
LOS ANGELES -- A man who claimed to have a bomb aboard a Los Angeles-bound airliner and lunged for a door as it landed was tackled by other passengers and held for questioning Wednesday, authorities said.
No bomb was found and after questioning by the FBI and airport police, investigators concluded the man should undergo a psychological evaluation, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.
Delta Air Lines Flight 110 from Atlanta was only minutes from landing at Los Angeles International Airport shortly before 10:30 a.m. when the man "jumped up and started running ... (and) yelled 'I've got a bomb,"' said passenger Bruce Worrilow.
"This guy goes rushing down the aisle and the flight attendant is running after him. He's yelling for help," Worrilow said. "The flight attendant called the cockpit and said, 'This is a serious situation here.' The guy was yelling, 'I have a bomb. I have a bomb.'"
"He kept saying, 'I got a bomb,' and then he rushed to the emergency exit. That's when I cut him off and tackled him. It was like a football pile-up. Others jumped on top of him. Someone yelled, 'Grab his hands,'" Worrilow said.
A flight attendant then used plastic ties to bind the man.
The man was not arrested by the FBI but was expected to be turned over to Los Angeles police. Eimiller said the incident was not a federal matter but the man could face a state charge.
The plane had 271 passengers aboard, Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said from Atlanta.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Los Angeles
First Published: Jan 7, 2009 2:09 PM PST
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