The passenger, named by police as Jacob A. Garcia (pictured), had to be forcibly removed by police officers
A man was arrested after being repeatedly Tasered on board an aircraft for allegedly touching another passenger inappropriately and making racial slurs.
The incident happened on an American Airlines flight travelling from Miami to Chicago.
The passenger, named by police as Jacob A. Garcia, had to be forcibly removed by police officers.
Police were apparently called when Garcia started making racial slurs and ‘disrespecting’ another passenger in front of his girlfriend.
When officers entered the aircraft on Sunday night, Garcia continued to remonstrate with them, asking why they were removing him from the plane.
Fellow passenger Jabari Ennis, 37, who works in IT, recorded the moment the unruly passenger was forced off the flight.
Discussing the prelude to that, he said: ‘The man started harassing a couple on the plane, hitting on the female and being disrespectful to the guy.
‘Eventually the boyfriend called the flight attendant and asked that he be removed.
‘The flight attendant tried to hear him out but he was being purposely argumentative without making any points.’
He said staff moved the man away from the couple but he then ‘started making louder racial slurs to the flight attendant and others’.
Mr Ennis added: ‘Myself and others on the plane started complaining to the flight attendant that this was not tolerable. They then decided to remove him and called the police.’
Police officers then entered the American Airlines flight to try and control the unruly individual.
In the clip, Garcia can be seen grappling with the burly officers.
He shouted: ‘Listen what is the reason why you’re removing me from this plane?’
Someone can then be heard saying: ‘Well you just assaulted a lady for one, you’re racist for two.’
One officer in the video struggles with Garcia, gripping him around the neck, to try and control him while two other officers work on handcuffing him.
But Garcia resisted and one of the officers told him: ‘Do not fight’.
As he struggled with the officers he said again: ‘You listen, I’m asking you, right now, what is the reason?’
An officer then reaches for his Taser from his belt.
Garcia tells him: ‘Go on Taser me, and you’ll see what happens.’
The taser doesn’t appear to affect Garcia — at first — who mocks the officer by calling him a ‘baby’ and he tries to snatch the device out of the officer’s hand.
Eventually, the taser does appear to work and officers were able to take him into custody.
Mr Ennis told the Mirror: ‘We all had to deplane in order to get him off. The crowd cheers when they drove him away.’
In a statement American Airlines said: ‘American began the process of deplaning the entire aircraft. During that process, a physical altercation between the same two passengers took place.
‘Once law enforcement was on the aircraft, the passenger then became combative with the officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department.
‘We will cooperate with the Miami-Dade Police Department on this matter. The flight, which was scheduled to depart at 9:30 p.m. ET, departed at 10:34 p.m. ET with all remaining passengers. We thank our crews and airport customer service team for their excellent work in this situation.’
Garcia was later brought to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center where he was charged with battery, depriving and officer of a firearm, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct, officials said.