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

Read the original at NBC News ↗
Cite

York, N. N. (2026, September 5). Man duct-taped to plane seat after hurling slurs and attacking other passenger, witness says. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-duct-taped-airline-seat-hurling-racist-slurs-rcna596231

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

NBC News · collected 2026-09-05 · by NBC New York

Quick Summary

A passenger on an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Newark, New Jersey was duct-taped to his seat after allegedly using racial slurs at staff and attacking another passenger, according to witness Michelle Ng-Reyes. The incident occurred on Thursday and the plane was diverted to Baltimore, where the passenger was removed from the plane and taken into custody by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. No details are provided about the passenger's identity or current status, but the FBI is conducting interviews and may file federal charges. The flight, which was originally scheduled to land in Newark 3.5 hours after takeoff, was delayed for roughly five hours due to the diversion.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-06, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Arthur Lundeen, a 67-year-old man from Tucson, Arizona, was restrained with duct tape to his seat on an American Airlines flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Newark after he allegedly became violent and hurled racial slurs at a flight attendant. The incident occurred about two hours into the flight, which was diverted to Baltimore due to Lundeen's behavior. Witnesses, including Juan Mejia, a retired law enforcement officer, and Richard Olenick, restrained Lundeen with zip ties and duct tape until authorities could board the plane and take him into custody. Lundeen was later released on his own recognizance after waiving his right to an attorney in court. He was subsequently fired from his job as a real estate agent at Long Realty in Tucson, citing the company's zero-tolerance policy for such behavior.

Written for “Passenger Incident on Flight” on 2026-10-22, grounded in this article and the 4 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Passenger Incident on Flight
Crime & Law · 5 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads centre and hedges 31% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
US man duct-taped to seat after attacking passenger mid-flight, racial abuse same event · 100%
Times of India · 0.92 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 38% hedged 3 of 8 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe an incident where a passenger on American Airlines flight was duct-taped to their seat after allegedly attacking another passenger and using racial slurs, which occurred on the same day and flight.”
American Airlines passenger duct-taped to seat after mid-flight outburst same event · 100%
CBS News · 0.87 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 6% hedged 1 of 16 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles report on the same incident of a passenger being duct-taped to their seat on an American Airlines flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Newark, with similar descriptions and witness accounts.”
Unruly airline passenger who had to be duct-taped to seat after N-word meltdown fired from Arizona realty company same event · 100%
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 10% hedged 2 of 20 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe the same passenger (Arthur Layne Lundeen) using racial slurs and attacking another passenger on American Airlines flight 618, and being duct-taped to his seat”
Unruly passenger restrained with duct tape during US flight same event · 90%
The Straits Times
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 10% hedged 4 of 41 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles describe a single incident of an unruly passenger being restrained with duct tape on an American Airlines flight from Texas to New Jersey, with similar details about the man's behavior and the actions of other passengers.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
16
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
31%
5 of 16 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Centre
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
95/100
NBC News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
5
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-06 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

NBC News · 1613 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

NBC New York
1 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 “They had to physically restrain him ’cause they were worried he might try to go into the cockpit or something, which is obviously pretty scary,” she said.
2026-09-05 · mixed framing · Man duct-taped to plane seat after hurling slurs and attacking other passenger, witness says
The only article under this byline in the corpus.

Topics

American Airlines Baltimore FBI Newark U.S.

Subjects

Ng-Reyes PERSON · 4× American Airlines ORG · 2× Baltimore ORG · 2× FBI ORG · 2× Newark GPE · 2× U.S. GPE · 2× Michelle Ng-Reyes PERSON · 1× NBC ORG · 1× New Jersey GPE · 1× TMZ ORG · 1×

Narrative

The flight was scheduled to land in Newark 3 1/2 hours after takeoff, Ng-Reyes said, but the diversion and delay stretched the trip to roughly eight hours. “The safety and security of our customers and team members is our top priority and we do not tolerate violence,” American Airlines said in a statement.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-06
🔮 “They had to physically restrain him ’cause they were worried he might try to go into the cockpit or something, which is obviously pretty scary,” she said.
2026-09-06 · NBC News
Man duct-taped to plane seat after hurling slurs and attacking other passenger, witness says · mixed framing

Claims (16 extracted, 5 hedged)

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. uncertain
passenger → bind → 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. uncertain
crew → thrash → 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. asserted
Reyes → think → suit
“The three men that were holding him down were saying things like, ‘Stop moving, please stop yelling, just sit down.’” asserted
that → hold → things
A video obtained by TMZ shows the effort to restrain him. asserted
video → obtain → 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. asserted
man → seat → him
He also appeared to target his fury at flight attendants who were Black, Ng-Reyes said. asserted
Reyes → appear → attendants
“They had to physically restrain him ’cause they were worried he might try to go into the cockpit or something, which is obviously pretty scary,” she said. uncertain
she → have → cockpit
The flight, which originated in Dallas, was diverted to Baltimore, where the passenger was removed from the plane and taken into custody, officials said. asserted
officials → originate → custody
His name has not been released. asserted
name → release → ?
He was arrested by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police, according to a statement from the the FBI’s Baltimore field office. uncertain
He → arrest → office
The agency did not respond to a request for comment on the matter and it’s unclear whether the man remains in custody. uncertain
man → respond → custody
“The FBI is currently conducting interviews to gather the facts and will consult with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland to determine if federal charges will be filed,” the statement said. asserted
statement → conduct → Maryland
A spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment. asserted
spokesperson → decline → office
The flight was scheduled to land in Newark 3 1/2 hours after takeoff, Ng-Reyes said, but the diversion and delay stretched the trip to roughly eight hours. “The safety and security of our customers and team members is our top priority and we do not tolerate violence,” American Airlines said in a statement. asserted
Airlines → schedule → statement
“We thank our team members for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding.” asserted
We → thank → understanding
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