Stripping passenger sends flight to ABQ

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Passengers on a cross-country flight to Los Angeles found themselves in Albuquerque briefly after a fellow passenger removed his clothes and ran around the plane naked.

Keith Wright was arrested after the flight made an emergency landing at the Albuquerque International Sunport around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The flight, U.S. Airways Flight 705, was headed from Charlotte, N.C., to Los Angeles when, according to the flight crew and passengers, Wright stripped down and began acting unruly.

Flight attendants had ordered Wright to put his clothes back on, according to the FBI, and he became combative when they tried to cover him with a blanket and get him to his seat. Meanwhile, flight attendants were dealing with an unrelated medical emergency also on the flight.

Two off-duty law enforcement officers were on the flight and helped get Wright under control, the FBI said.

"We actually had to physically hold him down on the floor and handcuff his ankles, his wrists," said passenger Matt McGinnis.

McGinnis suffered several bruises trying to get the man back under control.

When the flight landed, Wright was arrested and handed over to the FBI. After about an hour's delay, the flight continued to Los Angeles.

Chief Marshall Katz of the Albuquerque Airport Police Department said it appeared Wright may have drank some alcohol in Charlotte and hadn't taken some medication he was on.

He said, "Perhaps a combination of not taking medication and perhaps the alcohol and the altitude may have impacted his usual behavior."

Wright is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning on a federal charge of interfering with flight crew members and attendants.