Southwest Flight Diverted After Drunk Passenger’s Threats, ‘Belligerent’ Behavior

A Southwest flight from Nashville, Tennessee, to Phoenix, Arizona, was forced to make an emergency landing in Oklahoma City on Saturday after a drunk passenger started behaving in an unruly manner, threatening passengers and the crew members.

Caleena Johnson, 36, was arrested after she displayed “disorderly” conduct on the plane, “bothering passengers seated around her,” with a number of them complaining to the flight attendants that she verbally threatened them.

When the cabin crew tried to calm her down, Johnson got “belligerent,” continuing with her abusive tirade and refusing to heed their requests. Unable to control the situation, the flight attendants informed the pilot, who made the decision to divert the plane as Johnson “posed a threat to everyone on board.”

A Southwest spokesperson told Yahoo Lifestyle that the flight diversion was necessary “to allow local authorities to meet the flight and remove a passenger who was not following the instructions of the flight crew, a federal requirement.”

After landing in Oklahoma City, the plane remained at the Will Rogers World Airport for 45 minutes as security personnel removed Johnson before the rest of the passengers were flown to their original destination. While being escorted from the flight, Johnson was “unsteady on her feet and had a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage from her breath,” according to the criminal complaint filed against her.

When authorities informed Johnson they were going to remove her from the plane for public drunkenness, she asked the officers why she was being treated “that way,” denying any wrongdoing, NBC-affiliated KFOR reported.

While being transported to the Oklahoma County jail, Johnson “laid backwards and kicked out the rear passenger window” of the patrol car, with both her legs, as well as yelled at the officers, saying, “I hope you die a slow and painful death.” As the officers had to pull over to the side of the road, they found Johnson peering out of the busted window and asking everyone around to help, claiming she was being unlawfully detained. The authorities had to tie both her legs together before proceeding.

Johnson was booked into jail on charges of disorderly conduct, public drunk and destruction of city property.

There have been a number of instances of drunk and disorderly passengers on flights before, the most recent one being an Irish passenger flying in the business class on Air India, who hurled abuses at the flight attendants, even spitting at one of them. The passenger can be heard swearing 40 times in a video recorded by one of the crew members.

Despite her angry rant, she was not given additional alcohol as she was already deemed as drunk by the flight attendants.

“When she demanded yet another bottle, the crew declined. She then threatened to push over the dessert trolley. She saw an open bottle of wine on it and took it without permission. The captain issued her a warning letter, which she read out loud to other passengers. She then came to the gallery and spat in the face of a crew member, before twisting her arm and injuring her,” a source said.