A Las Vegas man was arrested after acting belligerent on an American Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City. The passenger, identified as 61-year-old Timothy Armstrong, began causing a disturbance when a woman sitting in front of him got out of her seat to stretch her back.
"He began by yelling at the Asian woman in front of me to sit down when she was standing to deal with a back issue," passenger Dennis Busch said, according to NBC News.
Busch recorded some of Armstrong's outbursts, which included him growling and members of the flight crew and screaming about Joe Biden.
"He proceeded to tell multiple flight attendants that she and her companion 'didn't belong here.' After asking him to calm down, the man went into a complete meltdown of racist, sexist, and belligerent comments, culminating in his arrest at the gate."
Busch praised the professionalism of the flight crew as they did their best to calm Armstrong down.
"We were lucky to have such a well-trained crew who kept their cool throughout the flight," he continued.
When the plane landed in Salt Lake City, Armstrong was taken into custody and was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct. Armstrong could also be fined by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is cracking down on unruly passengers by levying record fines for people who misbehave on flights.
"The flight landed safely at SLC where local law enforcement removed the disruptive passenger from the aircraft," a spokesperson for American Airlines said. "We thank our crew for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding."