A passenger suffering an apparent “mental health emergency” popped an overwing emergency exit on a Southwest plane in New Orleans and jumped to the ramp Sunday evening. Airport police were called to the gate after ground personnel detained the passenger. No one was hurt but the passenger was described as being “incoherent.”
“When deputies made contact with the man, they found he was incoherent and not fully aware of his surroundings,” a news release from the police said. He was still in the hospital on Monday for evaluation. Southwest said everyone did everything right in the incident. “We commend our flight and ground crews for their swift action and apologize to our Customers for their inconvenience,” Southwest Airlines said in an email to USA TODAY. The plane was ready to push so passengers had to be put on another aircraft for their flight to Atlanta and Baltimore.
