One thing’s for sure about covering travel news: there never seems to be a dull moment. The same could be said about Denver International Airport this week, as first there was a disturbing video showing American Airlines passengers evacuating with their luggage from a burning 737, and now there’s video (embedded below) of a man striking a police officer before being tackled by another cop.
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The caption posted by Denver Today reads: “A man at the Denver airport got aggressive with a gate agent, and when police arrived to deescalate the situation, he decided to take a swing at one of the officers and was tackled by another one!” But I don’t think it happened at a gate. It appears the altercation took place in Concourse C by the Southwest Airlines (SWA) check-in counter.
It’s not clear what prompted the man to take a swing at a police officer, but someone commented, “Those @southwest changes really messing with people.” That’s pretty funny and could be the case, since back in May SWA announced they are ending their long-standing “two bags fly free” policy and introducing a Basic Economy fare. This means flight changes will no longer be allowed and flight credits will now have an expiration date.
In related news, today is the day Southwest Airlines is starting to phase out its iconic open-seating policy. As of a few hours ago, the airline began selling tickets for flights with assigned seating, though the new boarding and cabin structure is set to launch on January 27.
This incident happened a couple of days ago, so it’s not related. One thing’s for sure, though: the police officer’s partner who tackled the man is being praised online. One viewer wrote, “Get the Denver Broncos on the phone,” while another said, “Holy what a takedown,” and “Give this man a raise.” Another compared the takedown to professional wrestling: “Bozworth meets The Undertaker into the JYD Headlock for the Winnnn!!!”
Another poster couldn’t help but notice the “need extra help” sign behind them, which is a fitting backdrop for everything unfolding in the video. At least this didn’t happen up in the air on a plane like what took place over Scotland this week, when airline passengers tackled a man who started yelling “I’ve got a bomb, death to America, death to Trump.”