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FBI: Soccer team members help subdue man on flight


ASSOCIATED PRESS

5:10 p.m. July 18, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY – An American Airlines flight from Boston to Los Angeles was diverted to Oklahoma City Friday after a passenger stripped, put his clothes back on and then tried to open an emergency exit door before being subdued by members of a Major League Soccer team and others, the FBI said.

The plane later landed safely in Los Angeles, about an hour late.

Members of the New England Revolution were among those who grabbed the man near an exit door, FBI spokesman Gary Johnson said. Tie wraps were placed on the man, whose name was not immediately released, and he was taken off the flight in Oklahoma City and placed under mental evaluation, Johnson said.

American Flight 725, a Boeing 757, arrived in Oklahoma City at 1:35 p.m. CDT and was back in the air an hour later, said American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith. It landed without incident at Los Angeles International Airport at 3:13 p.m. PDT.

Craig Tornberg, the soccer team's general manager, said he confronted the man as soon as he saw him emerge naked from one of the plane's restrooms.

“I said he should get back into the bathroom and put on his clothes,” Tornberg said after the plane landed in Los Angeles. “He said something strange to me. He said, 'I don't hear you. I don't see you.'”

Still, the man complied and got dressed, Tornberg said, before he “made a beeline for the emergency door.”

Tornberg said he, assistant coach Gwynne Williams and Michael Burns, the team's vice president for player personnel, grabbed the man and forced him into a seat as a flight attendant ran to get the restraints.

The pilot diverted the flight to Will Rogers World Airport where the man was removed.

“He was taken into custody by the Oklahoma City Police Department and taken to a crisis center for a mental evaluation,” the FBI's Johnson said. His name was not immediately released.

Shortly before the incident Tornberg said he saw the man, described as clean-cut and in his early 20s, crying and “talking a lot of gibberish.”

The soccer team was on its way to Southern California for a game on Sunday against Chivas USA at California State University, Fullerton. Its members were among 151 passengers and seven crew members on the flight.

As passengers left the plane in Los Angeles, several indicated they had taken the incident in stride.

Gillian Callaghan, who was traveling with her 12-year-old son, said she never panicked because the flight crew seemed to keep things well under control. She said she felt sorry for the man.

“He was just having some troubles, confused, not a scary guy,” she said.

  

Associated Press Writer Raquel Maria Dillon in Los Angeles contributed to this story.


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