New footage has shown the moment an New Mexico cops confront an American Airlines passenger who tried to open the emergency door on a Boeing 737 mid-flight.
The terrifying incident took place in late February on board flight 1219 from Albuquerque International Airport headed towards Chicago.
Previous footage from a passenger on the aircraft shows the man being swarmed by a group of men after he tried to open the emergency exit door just 30 minutes into the three hour flight.
The fearless passengers managed to restrain the man, who was suffering a ‘mental episode,’ and had to duct tape him to a seat at the very back of the plane.
The newly released footage shows Albuquerque police officers storming onto the plane after all the passengers had safely disembarked when it emergency landed at International Sunport Airport to confront the man.
According to cops, the passenger – who has not yet been named – did not give them any trouble during the arrest.
Officers cut of the duct tape wrapped tightly around his wrist and swapped it out for real handcuffs before they escorted him off the American Airlines flight.
Statements from officers revealed that the man was suffering from a ‘mental health episode’.
Passengers and crew on board spoke to police to share their account of the dramatic and scary situation.
‘I could hear the air, that was my first indicator, the air was coming in a really strong way,’ a flight attendant said.
When asked if it looked like the unruly passenger was trying to open the door, a fellow passenger said, ‘yeah he was hanging on the handle.’
A heroic passenger that jumped into action to restrain the man said, ‘I had his arms and his legs. It didn’t feel like he was struggling. It could have just been adrenaline too of all of us just holding him down.’
Another of the passengers that bravely confronted the guy said, ‘we were able to cuff him and restrain him and then move him to the back of the plane, and then obviously from there the flight turned around and we arrived back here.’
One of the fearless passengers taking on the man was Zach Etkind, host of the Barstool Sports series Donnie Does.
He shared images of the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the caption: ’30 minutes after departing Albuquerque I was shaken out of my Panda Express and Tequila induced stupor by a man trying to aggressively open the airplane door 4 rows back.
‘Me and 5 other dudes had to wrestle him into the aisle, duct tape his legs, and throw flexi-cuffs on him.’
He later shared a picture of the man being led off the aircraft by police with the caption: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!’
After his heroic intervention, Etkind told Fox News: ‘At the moment there was just too much going on to be panicking, but it was very scary.’
He said he was about to fall asleep when the commotion around the unruly passenger caused him to jump out of his seat and help other flyers who were trying to subdue the man.
‘So I jumped out of my seat, ran over, and we probably had about like four or five guys who were trying to rip off this guy who was clinging to and pulling at the [emergency door] handle,’ he added.
‘Once we got him off of the door, we moved him to the aisle, and we all held down his legs and arms.’
DailyMail.com have asked the Albuquerque Police Department for additional details on the arrest and the passenger.
