Summary: A man on a United Airlines flight attacked a sleeping passenger, punching him repeatedly until his face was bruised and bloody. The suspect, Everett Chad Nelson, claimed the victim had attacked him earlier, but a witness stated Nelson’s attack lasted about a minute and the victim did not fight back. The FAA is investigating the incident, which is one of over 1,700 unruly passenger incidents reported this year.
The attack lasted a minute and the victim didn’t fight back?!
You hit me once and it is on. (That’s if we are on the ground)
On an air plane you hit me once and I call a flight attendant and have your ass arrested. On an airplane you hit me twice and it’s on. I have a legal right to defend myself. (And yes I know you can’t be arrested by a flight attendant, but the flight attendant can certainly call someone who can arrest you).
You must be really tough!
Also, cops can’t fly.
Air marshals? And even if there isn’t one on board they can land and have the police waiting there
And no I’m not tough. But I’m not going down without a fight.
You don’t know what Air Mashals do if you think they’re the type of cop that intervenes in passenger vs passenger fights. They’re there to stop the plane from being hijacked or crashed by a saboteur.
How long do you think it would take to fly down to pick up a cop? Minutes, perhaps? Intriguing.
You’ve never been in a real fight if you’re that confident you’d prevail in an ambush by a crazy person while restrained by a seat belt.
Who said anything about prevailing or winning? I said fighting back I never said winning.
Damn you’re really tough and cool.
So what you are saying is…
Since I would probably lose the fight and get my ass handed to me but I wouldn’t just sit there, then that means I’m tough and cool?
Interesting take.
You have a good night.
Feeling compelled to tell internet strangers that you would never lose consciousness or composure if you were ambushed by someone seated next to you while you were restrained at the waist means you’re definitely very tough, very cool, and very experienced in hand to hand combat.
I’m not as smart and tough as that guy you’re replying to, but wouldn’t an air Marshall detain people for fighting? I thought I’ve read stories where they have in the past, but maybe I’m not remembering correctly.
Maybe, maybe not. The fight could be a distraction to draw the air marshal into the open and into a vulnerable situation so that a highjacking can take place. As long as there isn’t immediate danger of loss of life, they might choose to let some guy get punched in order to continue their primary job of protecting 300 other people. Or they might step in.
That’s why they get paid the big bucks. To determine when it’s time to go loud.
But you’re asleep and next thing you know someone is punching your face and now you can’t see because you have fists in your eyes plus you probably have a seat belt on and you can’t get it off because your hands are probably trying to shield you
Your hands will still or at least should still come up. You should be swinging back. Even if you can’t fully figure out exactly who your assailant is. That’s fighting back. Why would you just sit there?
It’s also leaving your defense open to critical blows to the head.
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So which part makes me a Moron?
The part where if someone hits me I’m going to swing back?
The part where if there is a law enforcement official is present that I expect them to step in and stop one person from attacking another?
The part where if an air marshal is on an air plane and two people are fighting (putting the plane and passengers at risk) I would expect the Marshall to do something?
The part in another comment where I said something to the effect of "even if I don’t think I’ll win, which I probably wouldn’t win, I won’t go without a fight ", does that make me a moron?
I ask because you are making the claim that my arguments (point of view) basically aren’t normal.
Here’s a question for you: if someone hits you what would you do? Would you just sit there?
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Flight crew can’t arrest you, but they can restrain you until the plane lands and someone else can.
Also, they probably weren’t fighting back because they were shielding themselves. I don’t know if you’ve even been in a fight, but it’s pretty hard to fight back when you’re sitting down and caught sleeping.
Imagine falling asleep on a flight and then you wake up to punches to the face. Id imagine most people would just instinctively cover their face and try to protect themselves.
You’d have no fucking clue what’s happening for the first few seconds and if any of the punches landed you might be dazed on top of just waking up. And I’m sure at least a couple landed because you were asleep when attacked.
Yeah and in that enclosed space, it’s not like you can take a step back to assume a defensive posture from which you can actually engage in combat. If you’re standing in the aisle you can at least get some arm movement. Sitting turn you can probably barely get a soft jab in.