Posted on 06/03/2026 9:07:45 AM PDT by Red Badger
The incident took place Sunday night on Frontier Airlines Flight 3345, which had departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico, bound for Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
About 45 minutes into the flight, 51-year-old Juan Gabriel Reyes of Pahokee, Florida, began acting erratically, according to an arrest affidavit from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office and a federal criminal complaint, the New York Post reports.
Flight attendants and passengers spotted Reyes trying to open one of the aircraft’s emergency exit doors mid-flight.
When crew members ordered him to sit down and stop, he ignored them completely, rushed toward the front of the plane, and began shoving his shoulder aggressively against the cockpit door in an attempt to break in.
An off-duty flight attendant seated nearby volunteered to help keep the passenger under control, but when he briefly left to use the bathroom, the unhinged passenger allegedly snatched at his bag, grabbed him by the head, and began choking him.
That’s when a hero passenger stepped in.
Josh Longood, a Chicago-area former professional MMA fighter and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt instructor who happened to be wearing a Jiu-Jitsu shirt, instantly jumped into action, using flex ties, seatbelts, and his fighting skills to restrain Reyes against the wall and tie him up in his seat for the remainder of the flight.
Cellphone video posted to social media captured the scene as Longood and multiple passengers held Reyes down while the plane was diverted for an emergency landing at Miami International Airport.
WATCH:
VIDEOS AT LINK.............
WATCH: Passengers restrain a man onboard a Frontier Airlines flight to Chicago's O'Hare on Sunday after he reportedly tried to open an emergency exit door in an attempt to jump off the plane mid-flight.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
AVIATION PING!...................
Mr. Longood is a hero.
51-year-old Juan Gabriel Reyes of Pahokee, Florida.............
Florida Man!..............
“Juan Gabriel Reyes of Pahokee, Florida”
Florida Man, just living the dream.
The way things are today, I’m surprised Dana White hasn’t offered this as a business proposition to the airlines.
An MMA fighter on flights would no doubt mitigate a lot of this kind of jackassery at 30,000 feet.
Discount airline.
Florida Man Ping!...................
Pahokee!
A former boss of mine was from there............
Just because he lives in Pahokee doesn’t necessarily make him Florida Man.......Maricao Puerto Rico man would be more likely.
At least he had the right SPIRIT!............
Different times post 9-11.
After those doors close and the plane takes off, if someone acts out in a way that makes others feel threatened, even without an air marshal, there is a good chance the “nutjob” is going to get hurt, maybe even killed.
Cue theme from the 1960s TV series Batman ....
Florida Man ... nah nah .. Florida Man ..nah nah .. Bop Bang, Pow...
Florida Man.
Black Belt holder Josh now has proper bragging rights in his Dojo for the rest of his life.
He may even want to have a custom designed patch referring to this event, a patch that can be stitched onto his Gi (uniform).
Josh Longood, a Chicago-area former professional MMA fighter
Styling and Profiling
To be the man you gotta beat the man
W000000000000 !!!
Uh? An flight attendant Offered to watch the crazed man? Then the attendant went to restroom and didn’t alert anyone he was leaving the maniac alone? And the maniac wasn’t already tied up?
Sloppy of airline
Thank God for MMA dude
Let me guess... the hero was NOT a Biden/Harris voter.
I love it. Passengers and crew got the help they so desperately needed when they so desperately needed it!
“About 45 minutes into the flight, 51-year-old Juan Gabriel Reyes of Pahokee, Florida, began acting erratically”. Maybe Juan got on the wrong flight.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.