Summary: A man on a United Airlines flight attacked a sleeping passenger, punching him repeatedly until his face was bruised and bloody. The suspect, Everett Chad Nelson, claimed the victim had attacked him earlier, but a witness stated Nelson’s attack lasted about a minute and the victim did not fight back. The FAA is investigating the incident, which is one of over 1,700 unruly passenger incidents reported this year.

  • dan@upvote.au
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    48
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    26 days ago

    The first time I read the headline, I thought it meant that the United staff were attacking the passenger. Thankfully I guess they weren’t a doctor.

    • Dogiedog64@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      36
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      26 days ago

      A rampant culture of Indignant Self-righteousness mixed with a shockingly high level of undiagnosed and/or untreated mental illness. All this leads to a sizeable population of people who wholeheartedly believe that consequences don’t apply to them, and the actions that follow them.

            • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              25 days ago

              great [tasting] food, great [sized] country, yes. fucking bastard of a language english is.

              I have tried the standard of (If an area’s regional food is tasty, the people are probably pretty good folk) fairly extensively and found few exceptions. Only been tried for witchcraft and run out of town once.

        • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          24 days ago

          I worry about the eventual trip to Louisiana and the food that will make me abandon my flight home to live amongst the free-rangers for my own Seven Years in Thibodaux . I still have some vestigial college-level French, and I hope that won’t be an impediment.

    • BigBenis@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      25 days ago

      Our healthcare system doesn’t take mental health seriously so only rich people can afford therapy and even then, only a relative handful of people actually seek it out.

    • Rooskie91@discuss.online
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      24 days ago

      It’s a culture of repressed violence. Once you see it, it’s bursting out of every seam that holds this country together.

  • quicklime@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    ·
    25 days ago

    A day or so after I first read about this, I saw The Independent’s coverage of the same story. They dug into the assailant’s background and he turns out to be the leader of an Ayahuasca (plant-based shamanic psychedelic) ‘church’ in Florida.

    They also gave further confirmation that the attack appeared to be completely unprovoked, and that there was no known relationship between the attacker and victim, nor did they even seem to know each other.

    Also the victim appears to be a person who is deaf and does not speak, if I remember the article correctly.

  • Dasus@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    15
    ·
    25 days ago

    Everett Chad Nelson?

    As in, Everett like Everett True, the guy from those early 1900’s comics who always beats people up?

    Chad, like Chad as in… an “alpha” or otherwise hyper-masculine male?

    Nelson, as in the bully from the Simpsons?

    Nominative determinism strikes again. (Maybe I’m in that community and just didn’t look idk)

  • Mercuri@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    24 days ago

    The most surprising thing is it wasn’t United Airlines itself beating up the passenger.

    • Zron@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      24 days ago

      They’re testing their new program where the outsource the beatings for liability reasons.

  • ModestMeme@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    arrow-down
    29
    ·
    26 days ago

    People used to get in serious Federal trouble when doing stoopid shit on airplanes… Not so much anymore…

  • andrewta@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    18
    arrow-down
    51
    ·
    26 days ago

    The attack lasted a minute and the victim didn’t fight back?!

    You hit me once and it is on. (That’s if we are on the ground)

    On an air plane you hit me once and I call a flight attendant and have your ass arrested. On an airplane you hit me twice and it’s on. I have a legal right to defend myself. (And yes I know you can’t be arrested by a flight attendant, but the flight attendant can certainly call someone who can arrest you).

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      74
      ·
      edit-2
      26 days ago

      Flight crew can’t arrest you, but they can restrain you until the plane lands and someone else can.

      Also, they probably weren’t fighting back because they were shielding themselves. I don’t know if you’ve even been in a fight, but it’s pretty hard to fight back when you’re sitting down and caught sleeping.

      • cybersandwich@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        37
        ·
        26 days ago

        Imagine falling asleep on a flight and then you wake up to punches to the face. Id imagine most people would just instinctively cover their face and try to protect themselves.

        You’d have no fucking clue what’s happening for the first few seconds and if any of the punches landed you might be dazed on top of just waking up. And I’m sure at least a couple landed because you were asleep when attacked.

      • jaybone@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        26
        ·
        26 days ago

        Yeah and in that enclosed space, it’s not like you can take a step back to assume a defensive posture from which you can actually engage in combat. If you’re standing in the aisle you can at least get some arm movement. Sitting turn you can probably barely get a soft jab in.