Enraged Passenger Repeatedly Punches United Employee Before Trying To Jump Out Of Plane

Passengers aboard a United Airlines flight from San Francisco headed for Houston witnessed a wild scene before the aircraft even took off.

A male passenger violently lashed out and physically attacked a flight attendant by repeatedly punching them and at one point tried to jump out of the plane, all allegedly because he and his wife were asked to move out of the wrong seat.

Naya Jimenez caught the distressing incident on video just after midnight on May 1 before the flight's departure from San Francisco International Airport.

Jimenez told Eyewitness News the man was furious after she asked him and his wife to move out of her assigned seat.

The request to correct the common misunderstanding did not sit well with the unnamed passenger, and things escalated from there.

The man proceeded to attack a crew member who was trying to tend to the situation.

Jimenez's video showed some fellow passengers trying to stop the enraged individual from repeatedly delivering blows to the United Airlines flight attendant.

Social media users commented on the ridiculousness of the disturbance.

Jimenez recalled:

"They had to bring in a gate attendant to try to talk to both of them."

"Then, he began slurring his speech a little bit, like, 'Sir, why are you smiling at me?' That's the first thing he said."

This occurred moments after the man tried forcing the emergency exit doors open to disembark after the boarding ramp had been removed.

Jimenez continued:

"After he paused for a minute, he ran toward where the pilot was, where the emergency exit doors are, and attempted to open it."

"(He) successfully opened the emergency exit and was about to jump down."

"The plane is elevated, so he would have jumped apparently two stories to the ground, and the flight attendants just kicked in, and everybody pulled him back to safety."

You can watch ABC 13's news report of the incident, here.

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United Airlines confirmed the shocking incident in a statement shared with the New York Post.

A United spokesperson stated:

“On Sunday night, our team at San Francisco International Airport immediately contacted law enforcement officials after a customer became disruptive during boarding.”

“We’re grateful to our team in San Francisco for their professionalism in this situation and for looking out for the safety of our customers and their fellow United employees.”

Eyewitness News provided an update stating 47-year-old Cody Benjamin Lovins of Montgomery, Texas was arrested and cited for battery following the disturbance but then released.