When BJJ black belt Josh Longood restrained an unruly passenger on a Frontier Airlines flight from Puerto Rico to Chicago, he did it largely on his own. According to Longood, the only people eager to help once the situation was under control were bystanders looking to get involved after cameras started rolling.
Speaking on Episode 419 of the Chewjitsu Podcast, Longood discussed the incident and explained why the extra hands became more of a hindrance than a help.
The host compared the situation to what he has seen happen to police officers who train at his gym.
“They’ll be tying this guy up and everybody wants to contribute, which is a nice sentiment,” the host said. “But sometimes it’s like, ‘Hey man, I got this. Just let me take care of things.'”
Longood immediately agreed, explaining that the same thing happened after the passenger managed to break free from his zip ties and had to be restrained a second time.
“These guys behind me are trying…” Longood recalled. “They see everybody has their phones and cameras out.”
He said the cramped environment only made matters worse.
“All the extra hands, like it’s in such a tight space, it was like driving me crazy,” he said. “These guys just kind of wanted to be on camera, and I was like, ‘Look, man, I got this.'”
The host questioned where those same people had been earlier when the situation was escalating.
“Where were you a minute ago when this guy was doing all this stuff?” he said. “I got it.”
Longood agreed with the assessment.
“Exactly,” he said. “So they’re just trying to grab him.”
He then revealed that one video captured him physically pushing away one of the would-be helpers.
“There was another video where I actually pushed the guy behind me and I framed on him,” Longood said. “I’m like, ‘I got it. Stop. You need to like stop right now.'”
What frustrated him most, however, was hearing one of the bystanders claim shared credit while everything was being recorded.
“That guy, hands are in there, and they’re just trying to…” Longood said. “You could hear him in the video. He’s like, ‘We got him. We got him.'”
The comment clearly stuck with him.
“And I want to turn and be like, ‘We got him?'” Longood added.
For context, Longood had been monitoring the passenger’s behavior long before the physical confrontation began. When flight attendants offered to move him away from the disruptive traveler, he declined.
“No, you want me to be right here,” he told them.
By that point, he was already sitting sideways in his aisle seat with his feet in the aisle, anticipating that the situation would eventually turn physical.
When the passenger ultimately lunged at an off-duty flight attendant, Longood was ready. He immediately stepped in, mounted the man, wrapped his legs around him, controlled his hands, and framed his face away from others nearby.
According to Longood, all of that happened before anyone else in the cabin had a chance to react.
As for the men who joined in after the passenger had already been subdued, Longood summed up their contribution in simple terms: they were “bothering me as much as they could.”
