by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:00 AM ET, Tue April 24, 2018
A disruptive passenger was removed by police from an American Airlines flight Sunday in Miami after he reportedly inappropriately touched a female passenger and tried to fight her boyfriend.
According to CBSNews.com, American Flight 2446 was waiting at a Miami International Airport gate when a disagreement broke out between Jacob Garcia and an unidentified man due to Garcia reportedly touching his female companion.
After Garcia was moved to another seat by crew members, he began verbally attacking the couple before flight attendants called on security to escort the misbehaving passenger from the plane.
Officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department attempted to remove Garcia peacefully, but after he locked his legs around a chair and resisted arrest, police were forced to use a taser gun to stun him.
During the transportation of Garcia from the plane to the terminal, officers had to carry him while he verbally chastised everyone around. Once inside the airport, the suspect reportedly attempted to grab an officer's handgun, but police brought him into custody safely.
Garcia has been charged with battery, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and more. American Flight 2446 left the Miami airport an hour later than originally scheduled.
American Airlines released an official statement on the incident:
On Sunday evening, a disagreement occurred between two passengers on American Airlines flight 2446 from Miami to Chicago O'Hare. The aircraft was still at the gate in Miami, and the instigating passenger was asked by our Miami team members to deplane and he refused. In accordance with our procedures, American began the process of deplaning the entire aircraft. During that process, a physical altercation between the same two passengers took place. Once law enforcement was on the aircraft, the passenger then became combative with the officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department. The same passenger was subsequently arrested by law enforcement. We will cooperate with the Miami-Dade Police Department on this matter. The flight, which was scheduled to depart at 9:30 p.m. ET, departed at 10:34 p.m. ET with all remaining passengers. We thank our crews and airport customer service team for their excellent work in this situation.
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