Man who was duct-taped to plane seat after 'racist meltdown' finally breaks silence
A 67-year-old man who became 'violent and racist' on a flight to New York has spoken out during a court hearing, after passengers tied him to his seat with duct tape while the plane made an emergency landing.
Arthur Layne Lundeen was reportedly left in disbelief as District Court Commissioner George Haag read out what he had been accused of on the American Airlines flight to Newark Airport on September 3.
Passengers on the flight reported that the man had become out of control, with the person sitting next to him claiming that he had 'never seen someone change in a split second from light to dark'.
But just a day after his arrest as he woke up in custody, Lundeen claimed he couldn't remember the alleged outburst.
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"I assaulted a police officer? Is that what it says?" he questioned, as court proceedings in Annapolis, Maryland, got underway.
"I don’t have my glasses," Lundeen noted, per an audio recording obtained by the Baltimore Banner, as the court commissioner read out the accusations.
"Oh my God. What a mess. I don’t remember any of it."
The Arizona man testified that he had been traveling to Newark to assist one of his daughters in moving into her new apartment on her birthday, but has now been sacked from his job following the incident.
"I got a double whammy for my trip. Well, now it’s a triple whammy," he reportedly said.
The passenger sat next to Lundeen on the flight, controversial author and Messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn, said that the two's conversation had grown heated as they started to discuss 'the reality of the real power of God on Earth and in our lives'.
He said: "I have never seen someone change in a split second from light to dark as I saw then, as if something had taken him over.
"He went from the friendliest guy in the world to this dark person."
One fellow passenger, Juan Mejia, claimed that the 67-year-old was 'very hostile and spewing venom towards them'.
Another alleged that he had told everyone on the plane: "We're all going to die."
"The plane is going to crash," he reportedly added.
Many passengers claimed that they worked together to 'physically restrain' Lundeen, who had become 'increasingly unruly'.
He was arrested and charged with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct.
Following the court hearing, which detailed the allegations and the plane's emergency landing in Baltimore, the man was freed but was instructed to refrain from using narcotics and alcohol.
His next scheduled court appearance is October 19.
Mia Williams