A man has been arrested after taking off his face mask, berating the flight crew and fellow passengers during a US flight.
Timothy Armstrong, 61, from Las Vegas has caused a scene on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City.
According to authorities, the department received information about an intoxicated passenger onboard the flight around 12:50 PM.
A video recorded by passenger Dennis Busch shows the man mocking the flight crew saying: “What? What? What? What are you going to kick me off this flight?”
“You can’t hold us!” Armstrong can be heard shouting as he confronts a flight attendant.
He also gave flight attendants the middle finger and swore at them, in addition to screaming “God bless America” and “Joe Biden!”.
Dennis also wrote on Facebook that the man verbally targeted an Asian woman, saying she and her companion “didn’t belong here.”
A flight attendant had to block him from gaining access to the galley. The flight attendant could be heard shouting “Now! Sit Down Now!”
After finally returning to his seat, Armstrong unleashed an expletive-filled tirade against the flight crew, calling one flight attendant a “power-hungry son of a [redacted].”
At one point in the footage, Armstrong can be seen growling and baring his teeth like a wild animal while sitting in his seat, apparently directing his fury at the flight attendants while pulling the mask on and off his face.
Dennis told ABC News: “His behavior was so bizarre, not particularly threatening towards us other passengers but it was very surreal.”
Dennis told 2KUTV: “I just was watching the guy because we were unsure what was happening and I just thought in case something does happen here, I want to record this. He would get up out of his seat, that really put people on edge, we didn’t know what he was doing.”
As he was taken off the plane, the drunk man can be heard yelling “Really? Really? Really?”
The man was arrested at the gate where he was checked out at a hospital and was later cited for disorderly conduct and public intoxication. No attorney was immediately listed in court records.
A representative from American Airlines confirmed the incident. The flight had “landed safely at SLC” and said Armstrong was met by law enforcement upon arrival in Salt Lake City.
American Airlines spokesperson told Insider: “We thank our crew for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding.”
The American Airlines incident is the newest addition to a recent string of confrontations involving unruly passengers on flights. NPR reported that a flight crew on a Frontier Airlines flight restrained one passenger to his seat using duct tape.
The passenger had allegedly groped two female flight attendants and punched a male attendant. The passenger was charged with three counts of battery.
Airline crews have reported incidents in which visibly drunk passengers verbally abused them, shoved them, kicked seats, threw trash at them, defiled the restrooms, and in some cases even punched them in the face.
The FAA said in a statement in August that it has proposed more than $1 million in fines against passengers this year. Airlines had reported about 3,900 incidents of unruly passengers as of mid-August.
Three-fourths involve refusal to wear a mask, and alcohol was a common factor, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA had hoped its zero-tolerance policy for in-flight disruptions, which could lead to fines as high as $52,500 and up to 20 years in prison, would be enough to deter potential offenders, but they’ve still seen hundreds of incidents per month.
Dennis dubbed Armstrong “Kevin” in the video, meaning a male-version of Karen, a scornful disgrace for white women who make entitled scenes in public.