Ryan Humphreys has been identified as the passenger who got into a fight on an All Nippon Airways flight from Japan to Los Angeles on Monday night. The retired Marine who fought the “rambling” passenger said the man may have been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
What Happened?
The brawl was caught recorded and posted by Twitter user @CoreyHour, but later taken down. The video showed two men on the stationary plane at Narita International Airport throwing punches at each other from their seats.
Humphreys said the fight started when the man, who he believed to be an active or retired military member, began “rambling” to other passengers and “smothering” the woman sitting next to him as he leaned over to talk to her partner.
“I would guess he has PTSD or maybe off his meds,” Humphreys, who now works for the US Department of Defense in Okinawa, told TMZ. “He didn’t strike me as being a drunk.”
The other passenger was removed from the plane in Tokyo and was later arrested for allegedly putting an airline employee into a chokehold. Humphreys chose not to press charges against the man, but has explained his side of the story.
“The guy in front of me – the guy in the red shirt – just starts rambling on. It sounded like he was talking to everybody.
“I’m looking around to see if anyone is listening to this guy. Like no one is. He gets up out of his seat and he starts looking around. He turns around and looks at me and naturally I’m looking straight forward.
“I didn’t say anything to the guy, and he’s just like, ‘What are you looking at,’ you know, ‘I’ll kill you,’ blah, blah, blah.
“I’m just like, ‘Hey, it’s OK, it’s OK,’ and asked me if I lived in Vegas, so he has something to do with Vegas, I don’t know.
“The couple sits down next to the guy. It’s a three-seat row, he’s on the window, the girl is in the middle and then her husband or boyfriend. Next thing you know, he’s leaning over and he’s up all in the girl’s face and he’s rambling, kind of what he was doing with me.
“And he starts to get physical with the man. It looked like he was trying to choke him out with a headlock with his hands. He’s like smothering the woman because she’s in the middle. That’s when I intervened.
“He was either active military or a veteran. When his shirt got ripped I could see all his ink or whatever – I’m ex-Marine.
“I would guess he has PTSD or maybe off his meds. He didn’t strike me as being a drunk.”
Passengers can be heard in the background begging the two to “please stop” and one person shouted, “Someone help! This guy is crazy.”
When the braw appeared to be over, the man in the red shirt charged back down the aisle and again attacked Humphreys.
Japan Today reported that the 44-year-old American was charged with assault after he allegedly choked an ANA employee on a plane on Monday night.
“The suspect, a US citizen, was drunk and arrested after he injured an ANA official following the fight,” a member of the airport police told AFP.
Ryan Humphreys
Ryan Humphreys is a retired Marine who now works for the US Department of Defense in Okinawa. He was seen in a video taken on board an ANA flight brawling with a man who he said may have PTSD.
WATCH: Brawl Breaks Out On Flight From Japan To L.A. Video
