On flight #4531 on Delta from Salt Lake to Phoenix, January 20th at 3:01pm, a man jumped off the plane before it got to the gangway. We were still moving when he jumped off and ran away and passengers were screaming “stop the plane” and the flight attendants called the pilot (I was in first class so saw her jump into action) and they stoped the plane short of the gangway.
7 police vehicles came in about 4 minutes later. We sat on the plane and I took a picture of the first cop that caught the guy (if you look closely, he is behind the luggage cart and holding the guy like a baby) and sent to news stations.
I had spoken the hispanic male, dressed nicely, in the airport prior to boarding. He seemed a bit “off” in that he was talking to me and another girl who was hispanic and asking me why I was eating fruit and asking her if she had been married. He spoke of things like “I was in my town in Mexico and everyone kept accusing me of this and that and finally I couldn’t take it anymore, you know, and have been traveling without preparation since.” He also spoke of how he grew up as an orphan. Odd.
He tried to follow me when I boarded, but was held back since I was in first class.
I sent the picture less than 2 minutes after this happened, from my iPhone and immediately called news desks.
The AP is reporting via the Police that this happened after we pulled up to the gate which is FALSE. We were on the runway for a time before they would pull us up, at the passengers insistence – as everyone was screaming “what if there is a bomb on board – pull us up, pull us up!”
So, he seemed fine. And I suppose is in custody, but this shows the power of social media and the immediacy of cell phones for even breaking news. The two news stations even indicated it would take more than 5 minutes to get out there as they were nowhere in the area.
This is good example of how social media continually impacts our lives and more importantly. can be a force for marketing businesses and creating new business opportunities.
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