Musician who helped take down suspect recounts airplane bomb scare

More details are emerging on the bomb threat and scuffle that happened aboard the Atlanta-to-LAX flight this morning. Apparently, the suspect who claimed that he had a bomb was tackled by a member of a hip-hop band from Atlanta, as well as half a dozen other passengers.

Chris Llewellyn, who plays bass and guitar in Asher Roth's band, said the incident unfolded as the plane carrying 230 passengers was making its final descent into LAX. Seated with his bandmates in row 43F, the guitarist heard a male flight attendant in the rear galley yell, "Help me, help me!"

"We were all sitting in our seats," Llewellyn said. "My boys had their headphones on. I turned around and got up and ran to the back of the plane."

He said six other passengers also ran to help.

"The suspect was yelling, 'Don't come near me, I have a bomb, I have a bomb!'" Llewellyn said. The suspect had his hands in his shirt. Cornered in the rear of the plane, the suspect lunged for the rear emergency exit door.

"We all jumped him," the guitarist said. "He was struggling hard-core. I was holding down his arm. Somebody had a foot on his head. Everyone was holding down a different body part. He was going nuts. I was telling him to chill because he's not going anyplace."

At that point, the plane was on the ground and a flight attendant had retrieved a restraining kit. From the ground the suspect asked, "What am I being charged with?"

Someone answered, "Assaulting a flight attendant."

"He flipped out over that," Llewellyn said. "Then they rolled him over and put the cuffs on him"

The band was flying to Los Angeles to perform on Carson Daly's late-night TV show.

-- Andrew Blankstein and Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Follow this link to read full coverage of the incident.

Photo: Inside the cabin of the plane following the altercation. Credit: Brian Cohen, Asher Roth keyboardist

Comments

[connof]

ok...first of all...i fly delta every time...never once has an incident like this happened.....but every time i hear about stuff like this it scares me...as a future pilot or Air Trafic Controller, i believe the people who held down the lunitic are heros....i also believe many would act the same way....ALSO the doors can NOT open mid flight, they are preasurized from the inside out...they could have possibly opened during landing if preasure was equal on both sides of that door...unlikely

[Tom]

my sisters boyfriend was on this flight.

[Just facts]

We need to know more facts here, for example, what caused this, did the passenger have a mental problem or claustrophobic/ panic disorder, which made this a very different situation from someone who was seriously a threat; did the male flight attendant's behavior provoke instead of calm the man originally, etc.?

While I'm as concerned with airline safety, OUR safety, as anyone, as a frequent flier, I'm appalled that some flight attendants threaten passengers with arrest for things as minor as "bothering them" with food and beverage demands -- I've seen more than once where a passenger objects to how they're treated or makes some demand the attendant finds unwelcome, and the attendant makes threats to get the passenger arrested. Now if you've got someone already prone to hysteria or panic attacks....

When it comes to cops on the ground with truly violent criminals, they're held to a higher standard and made accountable for their every action and word: let's make sure that the "unfriendly skies" do the same; it's too often guilty AND throw the book at them just based on accusation or suspicion in the air these days. Passengers are essentially prisoners and the flight attendants gods -- that CAN and sometimes does lead to situations way out of control, abuse of position. (NOT to excuse the idiot passenger for yelling about a bomb, of course, but let's not assume he needs to be lynched and get life in prison.)

[David Galvan]

There is a poltergeist in the photo!

[John K]

@PHD: Dude... seriously? Are you really advocating we violate every law on the books and kill this idiot on the spot?? Come on. Can't we all just say "great job" and breath a sigh of relief that no one got hurt?

[Jake Logan]

You should be executed immediately moron

[john mcnicholas]

Three cheers for hip-hop musicians. John McNicholas

[P H D]

Good on those passengers! The 'suspect' should be executed immediately -- on the tarmac next to the plane and all the TV networks should be required to show the execution in prime time.