Police escorted football star Odell Beckham Jr. off an American Airlines flight Sunday morning in Florida after crew members who tried to wake him up before departure grew concerned because he “appeared to be coming in and out of consciousness,” officials said.
Beckham, a Super Bowl-winning wide receiver, is scheduled to begin visiting teams he could sign with as a free agent on Thursday. He most recently played for the Los Angeles Rams.
Miami-Dade police responded to American Airlines Flight 1228 in Miami, bound for Los Angeles, at around 9:30 a.m. after flight attendants called for help out of fear that Beckham was ill and “his condition would worsen through the expected 5 hour flight,” police said.
“Upon the officers arrival, the flight crew asked Mr. Beckham several times to exit the aircraft, which he refused,” police said in a statement. “The aircraft was deplaned, at which time Mr. Beckham was asked by the officers to exit the plane, and did so without incident.”
Beckham said Sunday morning on Twitter: “Never in my life have I experienced what just happened to me… I’ve seen it alll..”
“Never. In. My . Life,” he added.
I COULD NEVER MAKE THIS UP,” he wrote later. “comedy hr.”
It is unclear whether Beckham was referring to the incident on the plane. Representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a statement, American Airlines said the Los Angeles-bound plane “returned to the gate before takeoff due to a customer failing to follow crew member instructions and refusing to fasten their seatbelt” before it eventually departed at 10:54 a.m.
Beckham, a free agent, is scheduled to visit the New York Giants, whom he played for from 2014 to 2018, on Thursday and Friday and then visit the Dallas Cowboys on Monday, according to the NFL. He also plans to visit the Buffalo Bills at some point, it reported.
Football fans are waiting to see where Beckham will play next. Also under speculation is how he is healing after he tore an ACL in the middle of February, the same one he tore 16 months earlier.
