Posted on 03/21/2005 6:52:43 PM PST by bellevuesbest
NEW YORK (AP) -- Prosecutors are investigating the death of a man who was subdued by several fellow airline passengers after he became disruptive on a New York-bound flight, a spokesman said Sunday. William Lee was pronounced dead late Friday after he was removed from the American Airlines flight at Kennedy International Airport. The cause of death had not yet been determined and was under investigation. Lee, 48, of New York, stood up in his seat on American's Flight 4 from Los Angeles and "loudly demanded another beer," airline spokesman Tim Smith said. Flight attendants asked him to wait until they reached his row, Smith said, but the man "got very, very belligerent and loud and disruptive and was told he would not be served any more alcohol." The purser tried to calm him down, but he pushed her aside to get to the aisle, the spokesman said. Seven other male passengers restrained Lee, who was a large man, and they and the flight crew put flexible handcuffs on him and put him back in his seat, Smith said. Lee got out of his seat again and the seven passengers held him on his back on the galley floor until the plane landed, Smith said. He said he had heard reports the men were members of a rugby team but said he couldn't yet confirm that. After the landing, Port Authority police boarded the plane and administered CPR to Lee, who "was in some kind of distress," Smith said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
"Jeez, they didn't have to kill him, they could have just put him off the airplane."
At 30,000 feet that would have worked too.
It is my portrayal of the MSM-view of this story. If the drunk man was Black then the passengers used excessive force to kill him based on racial prejudice. The airline was at fault for permitting it. Millions to family. No responsibility to drunk man. We have seen this dozens of time with drunk/high/violent overwight black defendants who died while being restrained by police. Most received large jury awards or settlements. It is sickening.
Well nicely done. Just go ahead and inflame this episode as a racial issue as if that's relavent.
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