Arizona Man Who Had To Be Duct-Taped To His Seat On Flight After Drunken Racist Meltdown Fired From His Job

An Arizona man who went viral for having to be duct taped to his airplane seat has lost his job following the incident.

Arthur Layne Lundeen, 67, had to be restrained on a recent American Airlines flight from Texas to New Jersey after he launched into a drunken, bigoted tirade at crew and passengers.

Lundeen reportedly began hurling abuse at his first-class seat mate before physically assaulting him. When crew intervened, witnesses said he used racist and homophobic slurs.

Passengers intervened to duct tape him to his seat while his hands were restrained with zip ties. Now, he has also lost his job in real estate.

Man Gets Duct Taped to Seat on Flight After Allegedly Making Racist and Anti-Gay Remarksyoutube.com

According to passenger Juan Mejia, the altercation started with Lundeen screaming at the seatmate before drastically escalating.

"Just like a light switch, all of a sudden, it went from quiet to yelling and chaos."

"I turned around to look, and the poor gentleman that was sitting next to him in the aisle seat, the individual had his hands around his neck and was, like, assaulting him."

When crew intervened, Lundeen reportedly turned his ire towards them, using racist and homophobic slurs. Mejia and another passenger, Richard Olenick, stepped in to help subdue Lundeen. It is Olenick's photo of Lundeen duct taped in place that has since gone viral.

Thankfully, Olenick and Mejia were able to rein Lundeen in—but not before he turned violent against them, too.

Mejia went on to say:

"[Lundeen] bit my hand. He didn't break skin, just left teeth marks on my hand. We were covered in his blood. He was bleeding quite a bit from cuts that he inflicted on himself."

The story pretty much instantaneously went viral—so much so that it apparently reached Lundeen's employer, Arizona-based Long Realty.

In a statement to The Arizona Republic, Long Realty CEO Kevin Kaplan said:

"While real estate agents are independent contractors, the appropriate conduct of anyone associated with Long Realty is paramount to us."

"To that end, the individual in question is no longer associated with Long Realty."

On social media, many cheered the news that Lundeen has faced consequences for his actions on the American Airlines flight.

Lundeen will likely be facing far bigger problems than just losing his job.

After the flight landed in Baltimore, where it was diverted, Lundeen was arrested by Maryland Transportation Authority police and has been charged with disorderly conduct and second-degree assault.

Because flights fall under federal jurisdiction, the case has been taken over by the FBI and may result in federal charges. Lundeen waived his right to an attorney in his first court appearance the day after the flight on September 4.