Three Marines restrain passenger who made threats on international flight

Three Marines restrained a passenger who made threats on an international flight from Japan earlier this week, the Marine Corps announced in a statement Tuesday.

Capt. Daniel Kult, Sgt. John Dietrick and Pfc. Alexander Meinhardt were traveling to the U.S. after being deployed in Okinawa when a “distraught” passenger barricaded himself in the bathroom. The passenger began screaming and making threatening statements, the statement said. 

The three Marines, who are about halfway done with a six-month deployment, prepared to subdue the passenger outside the restroom. When the flight attendant unlocked the room, they restrained him in a seat using flex ties and monitored him for the rest of the flight.

“I knew I had to step in when he became a danger to others and himself,” Meinhardt said. “I didn’t think twice about helping restrain him through the rest of the flight.”

The plane was diverted to the Los Angeles International Airport, and the passenger was taken to a local hospital.

“Great job done by those Marines!” a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Airport Police said in a statement.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the FBI’s Los Angeles office are investigating the incident. 

Lt. Col. Chris Niedziocha said he was “not surprised” by the Marines’ actions.

“I happen to know all three of them, two of them well, and they are all what I would call ‘men of action,’” he said. “I’m continually amazed by and grateful for the people we have in this battalion.”