A mid-air melee erupted in the first class section on an Alaska-bound flight earlier this week when several people on board had to restrain a man who they suspected was in the middle of an opioid overdose, according to an affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast.
The bloody brawl allegedly began with a mysterious scream from the plane’s bathroom and ended with a passenger sedated, handcuffed, and charged with multiple felonies. The passenger later blamed the ordeal on a panic attack and gummy bears containing HHC, a chemical found in cannabis similar to THC, the court filing says.
The incident allegedly unfolded on an Alaska Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Anchorage and started when a flight attendant heard a passenger screaming in the lavatory at the plane’s rear. When she asked if the person inside needed help, she heard another scream before the man inside “punched the door open,” the complaint, dated June 25, says.
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The man, 37-year-old Christian David Burch, was allegedly drooling, with an odor emanating from the bathroom that the attendant described as an “old, burnt, metallic smell.”
Burch allegedly stumbled toward the front of the plane, into the first class section, when another attendant stopped him before reaching the cockpit. When the attendant asked Burch what he was doing, Burch—who the attendant thought was twitching—said he couldn’t find his seat, according to court documents.
The attendant, fearing Burch was in the middle of a medical emergency, got him into a seat at the front of the plane, the documents say. A passenger who identified as a registered nurse allegedly examined Burch and concluded he needed Narcan, an emergency drug administered to counter opioid overdoses.
As the crew scrambled to retrieve the Narcan, Burch allegedly became combative, forcing multiple attendants to pin him down. He further resisted attempts to administer Narcan, court documents say, and began to bleed from his mouth and nose.
Burch “tried to punch and push on people and grab onto them,” the complaint says, noting that his blood “got on several of the flight attendants and passengers who were restraining him, including in one passenger’s mouth.”
A passenger assigned to watch Burch after the melee reportedly said he appeared calmer after receiving both the Narcan and a sedative.
“[He] did not speak the rest of the flight to the witness sitting next to him except to say, this was not an overdose,” the complaint says.
Burch claimed to have experienced a panic attack. However, during landing, a witness saw Burch trying to hide a piece of foil containing “a white powdery substance” between the plane’s seats, the filing states. During a later interview with authorities, he allegedly tried to hide a similar piece of foil.
When he got off the plane in Anchorage, his bag was swabbed and tested positive for the presence of both heroin and carfentanyl, a potent opioid typically used to tranquilize large animals, the complaint says.
According to Burch’s account, he was traveling with his stepson when he stepped into the bathroom and experienced severe vertigo, the documents say. Burch allegedly suggested that some HHC gummy bears he got from a gas station in Minnesota may have been the cause.
He faces several charges, including interference with flight crew members and attendants, and simple assault within maritime and territorial jurisdiction.
