Airline Passenger Taken Into Custody After Alleged Intoxication, Yelling Racist Slurs at Staff

A Breeze Airways flight reportedly diverted its route due to an unruly passenger who yelled racist slurs at airline staff.

A TikTok video of the incident shows a passenger acting belligerently toward a flight attendant, who asks him to return to his seat. The man refuses, seemingly under the influence, and remains standing in the aisle mid-flight.

"Is there any person that can help me out?" the flight attendant asks, prompting a larger man, also a passenger, to approach the unruly man, lift him by his shirt, and place him in his seat.

“Sit your ass down,” the larger man says.

According to NBC Los Angeles, the incident took place on Wednesday (Aug. 13) during a flight from Virginia to Los Angeles. When the flight crew and passengers failed to restrain the man twice, the plane made an emergency stop in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The air traffic control recording reportedly called the incident a "level 4 disturbance." The recording continued, "They say they had him restrained. He broke out, and there's passengers holding him down now."

The aggressive passenger’s name is David Leroy Carter. Police told the outlet that the 46-year-old was intoxicated and yelling racist slurs at staff while waving a skateboard.

"Just F-bombs and N-bombs," one passenger told NBC.

The man didn’t assault anyone, and there were no reported injuries. Carter was taken into custody and later transferred to a jail in Grand Junction.