Richard O’Lenick helped restrain passenger on American Airlines Flight 618
The Gun For Hire owner and employee Juan Mejia say they assisted crew members after a disruptive passenger forced a diversion to Baltimore.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Richard O’Lenick, the Gun For Hire owner who helped restrain an American Airlines passenger, was traveling with employee Juan Mejia when Flight 618 from Dallas-Fort Worth to Newark was diverted to Baltimore on Sept. 3, according to American Airlines and accounts from the two men.
O’Lenick and Mejia said a passenger became violent about two hours into the flight. They said they helped hold him down with zip ties and duct tape that a flight attendant provided.
American Airlines confirmed that Flight 618 diverted to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport because of a disruptive customer. Law enforcement met the plane and helped remove the customer before the flight continued to Newark, the airline said in a statement carried by CBS News New York.
Who helped restrain the passenger on American Airlines Flight 618?
O’Lenick owns Gun For Hire in Woodland Park, New Jersey. Mejia works for the business and is a retired Weehawken police officer, Daily Voice reported.
The pair were seated two rows in front of the passenger, they told CBS News New York. Mejia said he saw the passenger attacking the person seated beside him. O’Lenick said the man had used a racial slur toward a flight attendant.
Those descriptions are eyewitness accounts from O’Lenick and Mejia. The airline’s public statement did not describe the alleged conduct that led to the diversion.
What happened during the restraint?
According to O’Lenick’s account to Daily Voice, Mejia first stepped in to help the passenger beside the disruptive man get away, then moved into the vacant seat to restrain him. O’Lenick joined him.
The two men said flight attendants supplied the zip ties and duct tape. O’Lenick told Daily Voice that the passenger continued resisting and bit Mejia without breaking skin. He said tape was later placed around the passenger’s head after an attempted bite toward O’Lenick.
Mejia told CBS News New York that he was bitten on the hand and that the passenger had blood from cuts he inflicted on himself. The men said they remained involved until the aircraft landed.
What happened after the plane landed in Baltimore?
The FBI said Maryland Transportation Authority Police arrested and booked the passenger on state charges, CBS News New York reported. Daily Voice reported that police officers and a federal agent boarded the plane at BWI and took control of the passenger.
TMZ and the New York Post reported that the passenger was identified as Arthur Layne Lundeen and faced second-degree assault and disorderly-conduct charges. No underlying charging document or court record is included in the supplied material.
Reports differed on the passenger’s age, so it is not included here. The central facts are clearer: two passengers say they assisted the crew with restraints supplied aboard the plane, and American Airlines confirmed the Baltimore diversion and law-enforcement response.
This story draws on original reporting from TMZ.