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Stunned passengers watch as Delta pilot is arrested after flight lands in San Francisco
Videos on social media showed officers boarding the Delta flight in San Francisco and escorting a co-pilot away, as stunned passengers looked on.
A Delta Air Lines pilot was arrested by at least 10 federal agents in San Francisco on Saturday, Fox News reported, citing unnamed sources. Videos on social media showed officers in the flight taking away a co-pilot as onlookers stood stunned. As per the report, the pilot was wanted on child porn charges. Authorities are yet to issue a statement about the arrest.
Travel news outlet View from the Wing reported that officers ‘stormed to the front’ of flight 2809 after it arrived at San Francisco International Airport from Minneapolis at approximately 9:35 PM local time on Saturday. A video posted on social media showed US Department of Homeland Security officers taking the pilot away.
The pilot has not been identified yet. A passenger told the San Francisco Chronicle that she witnessed at least 10 federal agents, including Homeland Security investigators and air marshals, storming into the cockpit.
“A group of people with badges, guns, and different agency vests/markings were pushing their way up through the aisle to the cockpit. It was rage-inducing to see someone being disappeared right in front of me," she told the outlet.
View from the Wing posted footage from the flight. Officers could be seen wearing plainclothes and badges. Their faces were not visible.
Delta Air Lines, Homeland Security and TSA had yet to react to the arrest at the time of publishing this story.
A passenger told FOX 9 that the co-pilot was handcuffed and pulled off the flight.
“I looked at him and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ He said, ‘I have no idea'. And he genuinely looked like this was a surprise that all of a sudden there were people on the plane because he had us stand up, we were starting to take our stuff out for arrival and everybody was already (taking their luggage from) the overhead bins,” the passenger said.
