Delta Flight Gets Diverted After Off-Duty Flight Attendant Makes Threats

An off-duty flight attendant flying on a cross-country Delta flight caused the plane to be rerouted after  allegedly making terroristic threats.

Source: Kent Nishimura / Getty

According to police, the flight was diverted to Oklahoma after an unruly passenger allegedly made terroristic threats and assaulted two flight attendants. The suspect, Stephon Jamar Duncan, allegedly said he was going to take down the plane on Friday evening as it was en route from Los Angeles to Atlanta.

Duncan works for Delta as a flight attendant but was on the plane as a passenger as he was off-duty at the time, according to the airline. Delta went on to say that he went to the front of the plane and used the intercom system before being stopped by an on-duty flight attendant.

After he allegedly assaulted two flight attendants, an off-duty pilot helped subdue Duncan. Delta said that more crew and even passengers onboard the flight came together to help overpower the suspect.

“We’re holding him down and he was screaming and crying,” Darren Genet, a passenger on the flight, told ABC News. “And then one of the gentlemen on the flight was a Marine, and he came over and they got the restraints, and we kind of all held him down until we got the restraints on. By then he was sort of apologizing.”

Luckily, nobody else got injured.

The plane ended up landing in Oklahoma City without incident and the passenger was removed by law enforcement, according to a Delta spokesperson said. The plane was searched and cleared and then allowed to resume travel to Atlanta.