A Sun Country Airlines flight bound for Newark, New Jersey was forced to make an emergency landing to Chicago after a deranged passenger wearing at least a dozen face masks caused chaos in the cabin, ranting that “gay people are giving me cancer” and shouting “Trump is here!”
The flight departed from Minneapolis Friday morning, but passengers say the bizarre behavior began almost immediately after takeoff.
Witness Seth Evans, seated across the aisle from the unhinged man, told the Minnesota Star Tribune the ranting started before the plane even reached cruising altitude.
The Minnesota Star Tribune reported:
Seth Evans, a Minnesota native flying back to his home in New York City, was sitting across the aisle from the unruly passenger.
As the plane idled in Chicago waiting for police to arrive, Evans said in a series of text messages that the man was acting erratically for the entire flight, standing up and screaming between playing games of Candy Crush.
Evans said it wasn’t until the man said something to the effect of “the plane is going down” that the fight was diverted. He said the man was screaming about getting “gang chased,” “cooked” and “radiated” by the LGBTQ community and that this was causing him cancer. Evans said the man was wearing “no less than 15 masks” stacked one on top of the other.
At least once Evans recalled the man saying, “Trump is here.”The passenger was handcuffed and taken off the plane without incident by Chicago police officers. The flight remained idled as U.S. Marshals and police interviewed passengers about the incident.
Sun Country Airlines released a statement confirming the diversion:
“The flight landed without incident and the passenger in question was turned over to law enforcement and removed from the aircraft,” the statement said.
“We appreciate our passengers’ patience during the interruption to their travels and the flight is continuing on to Newark this morning.”
