A real estate agent was fired from his job after he was accused of unruly and violent behavior on a flight from Dallas, Texas, to Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday.
The incident happened aboard an American Airlines Flight when 67-year-old Layne Arthur Lundeen of Tucson, Arizona, allegedly attacked a person sitting next to him, bit people, and used disturbing language before he was restrained with zip ties and duct-tape, Fox 5 reported Tuesday.
The plane made an emergency landing in Baltimore where authorities arrested the suspect and “his employer fired him shortly after,” the outlet said.
Witnesses Juan Mejia, who is a retired law enforcement officer, and Richard Olenick recalled what happened on the flight, according to Breitbart News.
Mejia said, “Just like a light switch, all of a sudden, it went from quiet to yelling and chaos. I turned around to look, and the poor gentleman that was sitting next to him in the aisle seat, the individual had his hands around his neck and was, like, assaulting him.”
Both men quickly went to help the passenger and restrain the suspect.
Additional video footage showed what appeared to be the suspect yelling at other passengers after he had been restrained:
Lundeen’s seat mate was reportedly Messianic rabbi and author, Jonathan Cahn, who said the man screamed at him that “Jesus is bulls–t,” per the New York Post.
“I was the unidentified passenger and I was actually attacked, 30,000 feet in the sky. I was attacked on that plane,” Cahn said, adding he had “never seen someone change in a split second from light to dark as I saw then, as if something had taken him over. He went from the friendliest guy in the world to this dark person.”
The agency that fired Lundeen, Long Realty, said his alleged actions were “wholly inconsistent with the professionalism, integrity, compassion, and respect for others” that are expected of its employees.
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