Harrowing footage shows the moment a passenger was removed from a flight, as a Southwest Airlines flight from Nashville to Fort Lauderdale was forced to divert and land in Atlanta Friday night due to a reported security threat.
After redirecting from its original flight path to Florida, Southwest flight 2094 landed safely in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at 9:06 p.m. and a passenger was ejected from the flight by the Atlanta Police Department, FOX5 Atlanta reported.
In a video posted to X, frightened passengers on the flight can be seen raising their hands above their heads, as the passenger in question is forcefully cuffed and dragged off plane by Atlanta police officers.
Armed police officers in tactical gear can be seen yelling at the passenger, “Stand up, let’s go, stand up,” before they forcefully cuffed and dragged the man off the plane.
Tennessee native Sarah Porter was on board the Southwest flight, heading to Florida for spring break when the plane suddenly diverted.
Porter, 15, posted a video of the ordeal on TikTok, describing it as “one of the scariest moments of my life.”
“We were told we were going to have an emergency landing 45 minutes into the flight but weren’t told what was happening or where we were landing,” Porter told The Post.
The terrified teen said she only found out that “someone dangerous” was on the flight when “the SWAT team showed up with their guns drawn” and removed a man seated three rows in front of her.
The passenger in question was forcefully cuffed and dragged off the plane by Atlanta police officers. TikTok/ username66788752
While officials did not say why they removed the passenger, Porter said he had appeared to grow agitated when his bag wouldn’t fit under the seat in front of him.
“He wasn’t yelling or anything but I did hear that people were commenting on the size of his bag… It escalated when the flight attendant told him it wouldn’t fit under his seat and he was going to have to put it above him,” she said.
The man allegedly started texting someone “threats,” which caused a nearby passenger to alert the flight crew.
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“I don’t know exactly what he was saying or who he was texting but it must have been serious enough for all of this to happen,” she said.
After he was removed, the remaining passengers sat on the plane on the runway for more than 90 minutes, she said.
Eventually, passengers were told to deboard the plane and police canines checked their bags, before waiting another 90 minutes onboard of buses on the runway, according to Porter.
Passengers were eventually able to board a new aircraft and arrived at their intended destination in Florida shortly before 4 A.M. Saturday — turning the short two-hour flight into a nine-hour nightmare, Porter said.
Southwest Airlines said in a statement Saturday that the aircraft was diverted in order to respond to a “possible security matter,” but that company policy prohibited the company from sharing “specifics of security-related incidents.”
The man was not charged, said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which responded along with Atlanta police and determined, “There was no credible threat.”