Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orlenas
A passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to New Orleans pulled out a sharp object and stabbed himself in the neck shortly after the flight landed at Louis Armstrong International Airport. The man then proceeded to threaten and eventually injured a flight attendant who had tried to subdue him.
Delta Flight 2524 left Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport at 2:02 p.m. local time and landed in New Orleans after 1 hour and 31 minutes in the air.
The 39-year-old man who stabbed himself, Nelson Montgomery, a New Orleans resident, was subdued by other passengers until Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputies boarded the plane and arrested him, Captain Jason Rivarde, a spokesman for the police department, said.
Nelson was treated at a hospital and released. He was then booked on charges of aggravated battery, simple battery, and disturbing the peace. The motive for the attack on himself as well as on the flight attendant, who received a superficial injury, was unknown although the conflict began when a flight attendant told Nelson to remain seated after the aircraft, an Airbus A321, had touched down and was preparing to taxi to the gate.
One passenger told the Times-Picayune, a Pulitzer-prize winning paper that traces its origins to 1837, that some thought there had been a heart attack after flight attendants made an announcement asking for medical professionals to come up front. They later paged asking for assistance in subduing Nelson.
“At first we thought maybe a heart attack or something that somebody had had,” a passenger seated farther back, Raquel Davis told the paper. She added that she was impressed with the crew’s ability to deescalate the situation as quickly as they did.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
