‘Drunk and Disorderly’ Man Forces Flight to Make Emergency Landing: Police

Brandon Ganus faces numerous charges following his arrest onboard a flight from Pittsburgh to Dallas that had to be diverted to Oklahoma City on June 16 to due to his alleged disorderly conduct. (Oklahoma City Police Department)

An American Airlines flight from Pittsburgh to Dallas was forced to make a detour to Oklahoma City because of an allegedly intoxicated and abusive passenger.

Police cited by Fox25 said American Airlines flight 2840 made a detour from its scheduled flightpath on June 16 after 32-year-old Brandon Ganus allegedly created such a commotion that the crew and passengers had to physically restrain him with plastic zip-ties and duct tape.

“He tried exiting out of the front door, and we stopped him, so we went to his seat and we turned on the lights bright. Then, him and the person next to him got into a brawl,” an American Airlines flight attendant told CBS.

“I left the handcuffs up front with the other flight attendants, in case anything happened, and we went at him at the same time,” a flight attendant told News9.

The flight attendant said that when she tried to calm Ganus down, he flew into a rage and punched her in the chest.

After pilots landed the flight at its diverted location at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, officers boarded the plane to take Ganus into custody.

A police officer cited by Fox25 said that Ganus’s speech was slurred and he had “an odor of alcoholic beverage so overpowering that [the officer] easily detected long before [the officer] reached him.” Ganus was handcuffed and forcibly removed from the plane.

Officers said that as he was being led away, Ganus became upset and began yelling “colorful obscenities” and threats. He also resisted officers by dropping to the ground and had to be removed from the airport in a wheelchair, the outlet reported.

He was charged with public intoxication, resisting arrest, assault and battery, and disorderly conduct.

EasyJet Passenger Ejected From Flight for Smoking in Toilet

In a similar case, an EasyJet passenger had to be removed from a plane by police after she “endangered” the flight by smoking in the lavatory.

Police in Liverpool escorted an unidentified female passenger traveling from Italy to England off the plane after she allegedly sneaked a smoke in the lavatory and put “the whole plane in danger,” the Liverpool Echo reported.

Alarmed passengers aboard the Oct. 4 EasyJet flight reportedly notified the flight crew to the woman’s actions.

“She was shaking and moving about a lot then I see her run to the front to the toilet. It was full so she ran down to the back and slammed the door,” a witness told Liverpool Echo. “I thought she was sick at first but the cabin crew were knocking on the door and asking her to come out.”

After landing at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport, the pilot asked passengers to stay in their seats while police officers escorted the woman off the plane.

Video footage taken on the flight has emerged, according to the Daily Mail, showing two officers removing the woman from the back of the plane.

“The passenger was removed for smoking in the toilet during the flight, putting the whole plane in danger,” the pilot said to passengers according to Liverpool Echo. “Thank you for waiting while crew and police dealt with the situation.”

A Merseyside Police spokeswoman said the woman was not arrested, according to the outlet.

“We can confirm officers were called to a stand at Liverpool John Lennon Airport at around 12.50pm today, Thursday 4 October, to deal with a woman who had reportedly been smoking on an Easyjet plane which had landed from Naples.

“The woman, who was in her 30s and from the Liverpool area, was not arrested but escorted from the plane by officers and given a verbal warning.”