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Cleveland ISD Police Officer Takes Down Unruly Female Passenger on Flight to Houston

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In a moment of hasty, yet necessary and concise, thinking, a police officer from the Cleveland Independent School District took down an unruly passenger on Sunday, June 25, after witnesses say the woman tried to open the plane’s emergency exit during their Southwest Airlines flight to Houston, Texas. Landing at Corpus Christi International Airport instead, Flight 4519 was en route from Los Angeles when Pam Minchew, who has been on the job as a Cleveland ISD officer for only four weeks, noticed the woman passenger acting strangely.

Cleveland ISD Police Officer Takes Down Unruly Female Passenger on Flight to Houston

Photo: Wikimedia

With an hour remaining in the flight, the woman in question lunged for the emergency exit door, which Minchew was seated two rows behind. In an interview with ABC 13, Minchew stated, “All I could think about was the movies. Is the door going to come off? There were too many lives, including my children, so at that point I just had to react. She was not going to get the door open.” Her behavior had seemed odd since boarding the plan, Minchew noted, and when the captain turned off the fasten seatbelt sign, the lady in question began pacing the aisle, at times, walking backward.

Cleveland ISD Police Officer Takes Down Unruly Female Passenger on Flight to Houston

Photo: Facebook/Rex Evans

Moving the woman toward the back of the plane, flight attendants worked to get some control in the situation, but approximately halfway through the flight, she ran to the front of the plane, climbing over a seat and lunging for the exit. She then ripped off a plastic piece covering the door lever, at which point Michew yelled that she was a police officer and told passengers to stay calm. The rookie officer then proceeded to put the woman face down, place her hands behind her back, and walk her to the back of the plane, where flight attendants kept her hands together using zip ties.

Cleveland ISD Police Officer Takes Down Unruly Female Passenger on Flight to Houston

Photo: Wikimedia

Minchew sat with the woman during the rest of the flight in an effort to keep her calm, but stated, “All I could think about was asking her, ‘What are you thinking? There are families on this plane, my children are on this plane, what are you thinking?'” In a statement from the chief of police for the Corpus Christi International Airport, it’s been identified that mental health officials are currently evaluating the woman that caused the disruption, and since the incident occurred in mid-flight, the case is now in the hands of the FBI, who will determine whether she should be charged.

Source:

ABC 13