Airline passenger arrested on flight for shoving hostess

Passengers were left furious after being forced off their flight to Denver when a traveller shoved an air hostess and refused to fasten his seat belt.

David Clyne Dutson of Tucson, 58, pushed the hostess and refused to disembark the plane before police were called to arrest him at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

After Dutson refused to budge, enraged passengers were ejected from the plane while police apprehended the man.  

Dutson was released from jail the following day after making an initial court appearance during which the case was dismissed.

However it was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it can be refiled. 

Meanwhile, in August, a passenger on an American Airlines flight to Minneapolis from Los Angeles reportedly tried to open one of the plane’s exit doors while the flight was in the air.

Passenger Richard Munassi said passengers began ‘yelling and screaming’ during Flight 604 on Saturday as they tried to subdue the man, who has not been publicly identified.

‘There was a lot of yelling and screaming. I thought perhaps two of the passengers had gotten into maybe a fist fight,’ he told WCCO.

A passenger on American Airlines Flight 604 to Minneapolis from Los Angeles on Saturday was arrested after he reportedly tried to open one of the plane’s exit doors while the flight was in the air

Munassi said he was still unaware of what was happening until the pilot of the flight spoke on the plane’s intercom system. 

‘It wasn’t immediately after (the pilot) letting us know that we were in descent. It was a couple of minutes afterward, so he had a plan to open that door as we were getting close to the ground,’ Munassi said.

Fellow passenger, Salman Elmi, said that it was a ‘crazy experience’ as he watched people subdue the man while reaching for the door handle.