Pilot Takes On Belligerent Man Who Shoved Flight Attendant

'You don't put your hands on my flight attendant!'
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 2, 2016 10:14 AM CDT

A Kentucky man who was dragged kicking, yelling, and spitting off an American Airlines flight last month after allegedly attacking crew members was banned by a US District Court judge Monday from flying on commercial flights as he awaits trial, the Charlotte Observer reports. A video shot July 21 by a fellow passenger shows a man IDed as Michael Kerr, 25, trying to disembark the plane that had landed in Charlotte, NC, from Lexington, arguing with the flight crew and eventually becoming physical, shoving a flight attendant to the ground, per the Lexington Herald-Leader. It's at that point that the pilot can be seen emerging from the cockpit and forcing a seemingly inebriated Kerr to the ground, exclaiming, "You don't put your hands on my flight attendant!"

Kerr, who had just reportedly accepted a marriage proposal and downed three whiskey drinks during the morning flight, per the Daily Beast, was apparently impatient to get off the plane once it landed, ignoring instructions to remain seated. Per an FBI affidavit, he also warned a flight attendant he'd break her jaw and kicked an attendant in the leg before the pilot intervened and held him, with the assistance of the co-pilot and seat restraints, until the police arrived. "I felt like the flight attendant's life was in danger," the man who shot the video tells the Herald-Leader. Kerr was charged with being intoxicated and disruptive, assault on a female, communicating threats, and interfering with the duties of a flight crew or attendant; the flight attendant he pushed is now in physical therapy for back and neck pain. (A flight was once grounded because of a mob of irate passengers.)

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