An unruly Southwest Airlines passenger who forced his plane to return to its gate at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Tuesday was arrested after he assaulted a gate agent, police said.
Courtney Drummond, 44, of Henderson, Nevada, was arrested after officers responded to reports of a fight in progress at the airport, Atlanta police said in a news release.
Drummond was booked into the Clayton County Jail on counts of battery, simple battery and obstructing an officer. As of Thursday, he remained in jail on $10,000 bond, according to online records.
The incident began as Drummond’s Southwest flight taxied to the runway, police said. Drummond “refused to comply with flight attendants,” police said, but did not provide further details about his behavior on the plane.
Drummond became aggressive enough that the flight crew decided to return the plane to the gate before takeoff, according to police. After he was escorted from the plane, Drummond is accused of threatening the gate agent multiple times before eventually assaulting him.
Drummond’s arrest continues a trend of disorderly flight passengers that was reported last year by both airline workers and the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the Associated Press. In November, the FAA announced that it had levied hefty fines against several passengers reported for drinking their own alcohol and being noncompliant with flight crews. Those fines ranged from $16,000 to more than $40,000. The federal agency also said it had referred nearly 40 passengers to the U.S. Department of Justice for federal charges.
The most recent incident at the Atlanta airport took place in October. A South Carolina man was arrested after police said he started a fight on a Delta plane, then damaged a police car after he was taken into custody.
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