A man has been taken into police custody after he opened the emergency exit on an American Airlines plane that had just landed at Miami International Airport and jumped onto the wing of the Boeing 737 aircraft.
Local sources have identified the man as Christian Segura, 33, an American citizen who had been a passenger onboard American Airlines flight AA920 from Cali, Colombia. Segura was transported to hospital before being booked into police custody.
The bizarre incident occurred at around 7:16 pm on Wednesday night after an otherwise uneventful flight according to WPLG-TV Local 10. American Airlines says the incident did not cause any delays and flights continued operating as usual.
“While customers were exiting the plane at the gate, a passenger opened the over-wing emergency exit and jumped onto the ramp,” a spokesperson confirmed in a statement.
“The customer was immediately detained by law enforcement officials. All other customers deplaned normally. We thank our team members for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
Segura was initially detained by officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection who had immediately responded to reports of a man stood on the wing of a plane. He was later transferred to the custody of the Miami-Dade Police Department.
In July, a passenger onboard an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Baltimore opened the overwing emergency exit after the flight was cancelled but a tarmac delay meant the passengers were left trapped onboard the Boeing 737 for nearly three hours.
The impatient passenger clambered out onto the wing and then jumped onto the tarmac before law enforcement detained him close to the jetbridge. The unidentified man was later seen being escorted out of the airport by police officers.
