Footage captured the moment a belligerent passenger on a Frontier flight to Florida was duct taped to his seat after downing several drinks then allegedly groping and assaulting flight crew members.
Maxwell Berry, 22, was arrested on three counts of battery after the incident, on a flight from Philadelphia to Miami on Saturday.
The meltdown began when the 22-year-old Ohio native, who already had several drinks on the flight, ordered an additional one.
A Miami-Dade County Police report says he brushed an empty cup against the backside of a flight attendant who told Berry ‘don’t touch me.’
Berry then spilled his drink on his shirt and went to the bathroom. When he came out shirtless, crew members had to help him get a clean shirt out of his carry-on luggage.
After walking around for 15 minutes, Berry allegedly groped the chest of two female flight attendants.
‘He came up from behind and put his arms around both of them and groped their breast again,’ the report said.
Police said he then punched a male flight attendant in the face.
Alfredo Rivera, who was sitting in a seat behind Berry, captured the 22-year-old while he was scuffling with a flight attendant, trying to subdue him.
‘He started to get aggressive and basically attack the male flight attendant,’ Rivera told Local10.com
Rivera captured the moment Berry was taped to his seat, while fellow passengers looked on.
Berry’s head appears to be taped down along with the rest of his body as he screams ‘help!’
Frontier passenger allegedly touched 2 flight attendants breasts, then screamed his parents are worth $2 million, before punching a flight attendant. Frontier suspended the crew for duct taping the passenger to his seat as they landed in Miami. 22 yr old Max Berry is in custody. pic.twitter.com/4xS9Rwvafx
— Sam Sweeney (@SweeneyABC) August 3, 2021
After the Frontier plane landed, the 22-year-old was charged with three counts of battery and taken to Miami-Dade County Jail – TGK Correctional Center, 6abc.com reported.
Frontier Airlines confirmed the incident and said the flight attendants involved will be relieved of flying until investigations into the incidents are complete.
Violent incidences like these are becoming more frequent on airplanes and at airports as air travel picks up following the pandemic.
In June, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that airlines have reported more than 3,000 incidents involving unruly passengers since January 1, with about 76 percent of the nearly 3,300 reports involving passengers who refused to wear masks on board their flights.
It has collected $682,000 in penalties since the new regulations went into effect.
The passenger who is a 22 yr old child grated he was drunk no excuses, he seemed to had mental issue before he boarded the air plane I’m surprised a flight attendant didn’t notice but it hasn’t been obvious at the time of being out of control , obviously that all changed drastically, he became so out of control that the only solution was for that good flight attendant using duck tape to meet him in total control or else if he wasn’t tape he would have continued to be a wild monkey the flight attendant did the smart thing to control the situation it was already out of control being that 22yr was not going to calm down for there was no police official on broad stars for the flight attendants 🏃🙉🌠