Jody Armentrout: Marine stops passenger from opening plane emergency exit mid-flight

A US Marine has jumped into action when a passenger allegedly tried to open an emergency door mid-flight.

Jody Armentrout was seated by the emergency exit on All Nippon Airways Flight 114 from Tokyo to Houston when a fellow passenger’s odd behaviour caught his eye.

Sgt Armentrout, a 50-year-old sergeant major based in Japan with over two decades in the Marines, said his training kicked in the moment he spotted the man acting strangely.

He watched as the man took a backpack into one bathroom, then emerged and entered another, then a third.

“When he came out and started pacing the aisle, that’s when my radar went off,” Armentrout said in a phone interview with NBC News.

“I stood up and got between him and the door,” Sgt Armentrout recalled.

It was reported that the man then ran across the aircraft toward another exit.

“He grabbed a strap around the door, pulled it off, and about that time is when I took him and slammed him, put him on the ground,” Sgt Armentrout said.

With help from another passenger and flight attendants who handed him zip ties, Sgt Armentrout secured the man to a seat, and the crew then announced the flight would be diverted to Seattle.

Sgt Armentrout remained seated beside the restrained man until landing and said he was particularly concerned for the safety of the many babies on board.

“At the end of the day, I was willing to take the risk… rather than me allowing him to do anything that’s going to put anybody at risk,” he said.

Several passengers thanked Sgt Armentrout after the ordeal.

But the disruption didn’t end there.

According to the FBI’s Seattle field office, another unidentified passenger, upset over the diversion, punched a bathroom door while the plane was on the tarmac. That individual was also removed from the flight.

The man, who has not been identified, was removed from the plane and evaluated by authorities. Port of Seattle police later confirmed he was experiencing a medical crisis and was transported to a local hospital.

Flight 114 landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at 4.19am before going on to land at Houston at 12.42 pm.

As of Tuesday, no charges had been filed against either passenger.

Reflecting on the flight, Sgt Armentrout called it a “weird” experience and admitted to feeling anxious about his upcoming return trip to Japan on Friday.

“I want to make sure everybody understands what time we are in in this world nowadays,” he said.

“They need to be aware of their surroundings all the time.”