A former mixed martial arts fighter demonstrated remarkable composure as he restrained a disruptive passenger attempting to open an emergency exit mid-flight on a Frontier Airlines trip to Illinois.
Josh Longood, hailing from Chicago and with a background in MMA, was quick to act when commotion arose aboard Frontier Airlines Flight 3345. The flight, traveling from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Chicago O’Hare International Airport, encountered the incident on Sunday evening.
Captured on dramatic cellphone video, Longood is seen maintaining a calm demeanor while managing to hold the agitated individual securely against his chest, all the while trying to secure the man’s hands with flex cuffs.
“It felt like handling a child having a tantrum,” Longood shared with CBS News. “I used my legs to tie up his, while keeping control of his hands.”
Longood emphasized his intentions, saying, “I just didn’t want anyone to get hurt. I felt it was my responsibility to step in.” He also noted the passenger appeared to be significantly intoxicated, adding, “Who knows what else he was under.”
As the situation unfolded, other passengers and flight attendants joined forces with Longood. They utilized seatbelt extenders to help restrain the unruly passenger, who reportedly managed to break free from the flex cuffs multiple times during the ordeal, according to CNN.
The plane made an emergency landing at Miami International Airport, where authorities arrested the unruly passenger, later identified as 51-year-old Juan Gabriel Reyes.
Reyes, of Pahokee, Florida, was charged with battery and remains in Miami-Dade jail on a $20,000 bond.
Josh Longood, former MMA fighter from Chicago, restrained a passenger who tried to open an emergency exit door during a Frontier flight
The incident unfolded aboard Frontier Airlines Flight 3345 from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Chicago O’Hare International Airport Sunday evening
The passenger, later identified as 51-year-old Juan Gabriel Reyes, was charged with battery and remains in Miami-Dade jail
The flight began to unravel just 45 minutes after takeoff, when Reyes attempted to open an emergency exit door while the plane was thousands of feet in the air, according to an arrest affidavit and a federal criminal complaint obtained by CNN.
Reyes, who reportedly said he wanted to get off the aircraft, became increasingly violent after being stopped from opening the door and instead moved toward the cockpit.
According to court documents, he quickly approached the cockpit and began ‘shoving his shoulder aggressively’ against the pilot’s door in an attempt to force entry.
Flight attendants escorted him back to his seat and, at his request, allowed him to use the restroom along the way. Once inside, Reyes allegedly attempted to urinate on the bathroom floor.
His erratic behavior prompted flight attendants to move him to a different seat, and an off-duty Frontier Airlines flight attendant also offered to sit in his row.
The off-duty staffer moved his things to Reyes’ row and stepped away to use the restroom, but Reyes allegedly tried to grab the bag almost immediately, according to the affidavit.
According to a federal complaint obtained by CNN, when the victim asked Reyes to stop and moved to a seat across the aisle, Reyes allegedly ‘got on top of the victim,’ and ‘grabbed the victim by the head and choked him.’
As the situation escalated, passengers began moving away from the area, while Longood, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, remained calm and composed.
Longood, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, was captured on video holding Reyes down in his seat and attempting to restrain him with flex cuffs, even as Reyes resisted
Video footage captured Longood and other passengers struggling to tie Reyes’ hands during the encounter
Explaining the incident, Longood said: ‘It was like holding a kid down throwing a tantrum’
‘I knew he was gonna do something crazy so I restrained him and then, like, put him against the window and kind of safely controlled him so he couldn’t hurt anybody,’ the former athlete told CBS News.
Footage shared on X, which has since gone viral, shows Longood holding Reyes down in his seat as Reyes shouted and struggled continuously for nearly two minutes.
‘I just grabbed him, restrained him as safely as possible, kind of just really put him in his row, and laid him down, kind of framed against him, controlled his hands and his feet,’ Longood told CBS.
The plane eventually made an emergency landing in Miami just before midnight, where local police boarded the aircraft and removed Reyes.
‘I was joking with him. I was like, “We are going to be best friends after this, bro,”‘ Longood added.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that Flight 3345 was diverted to Miami due to a ‘passenger disturbance’ reported by the crew.
‘Law enforcement boarded the aircraft in Miami and removed the passenger and the flight subsequently continued on to Chicago a few hours later,’ officials said.
Though alarming for those on board, Robert Sumwalt, a transportation expert and analyst, noted that aircraft emergency exits virtually cannot be opened at cruising altitude, according to CBS.
Longood shared an Instagram story showing a photo of him smiling and giving a thumbs-up while Reyes sat restrained behind him
Reyes is accused of choking an off-duty flight attendant, trying to open an emergency exit door, trying to break into the cockpit and attempting to urinate on the floor of the plane’s bathroom
On Instagram, Longood wrote: ‘Luckily I’m a light sleeper and was only a row away when everything went down’
‘We all know that airplanes are pressurized, and because of the pressure inside of the airplane itself, it is pushing against the doors and the windows and the latching mechanisms to make it physically impossible to open the door or a window in flight,’ he said.
After the incident, Longood shared an Instagram story showing a photo of him smiling and giving a thumbs-up, while Reyes sat restrained behind him with his head slumped against the window.
‘You board a flight from Puerto Rico to Chicago and end up having to restrain and tie up a guy who attacked a flight attendant and tried opening emergency doors…’ he wrote.
‘After these pics, he slipped the ties, so I had to hold him down until our emergency landing in Miami. Luckily I’m a light sleeper and was only a row away when everything went down.’
‘Glad everyone made it home safely. Hoping my next flight is significantly more boring,’ he added.
Reyes was arrested and later turned over to FBI agents for federal charges, according to court documents obtained by the outlet.
He could face charges of interference with flight crew and assault within maritime and territorial jurisdiction, the Miami Herald reported.
According to Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation online records, Reyes was charged with battery and is currently being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
The FAA has logged 687 reports of unruly passengers this year alone.
