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Passengers on a flight, including two military vets, help stop a man who was armed with a box cutter. On Veterans Day, a Frontier Airlines flight from Cincinnati to Tampa was diverted after a man onboard was acting erratically and was reportedly armed with “some kind of knife or weapon.” Several passengers, who included a pair of military veterans and a former law enforcement member, helped the crew subdue the man.
One of the passengers, Navy veteran Larry Cumberbatch, volunteered to switch seats with a young woman who was sitting next to the man. The woman was concerned about her safety and said the man had shown her that he was carrying some kind of weapon. Cumberbatch says he wanted the man to know that he was “physically” there, while also trying not to antagonize him. “I just want to, you know, de-escalate so we land,” the Navy vet says.
Once they had safely landed in Atlanta and the other passengers were off of the plane, the former law enforcement member was escorting the man off the plane with Cumberbatch and the other veteran walking close by. The man made an erratic move and Atlanta law enforcement that had met the plane on the ground moved in and arrested him. Cumberbatch later praised all those involved in the incident, including the plane’s staff, who he says were “very brave.” Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident.
Source: ABC7