Man Tries To Attack Bystanders During Violent Outburst At Miami Airport

A man at the Miami International Airport was taken into custody after an alarming outburst of violence in one of the terminals.

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Video shows the man already in the midst of shouting racist slurs and threatening to fight people, bouncing around aggressively and getting in the face of someone who appears to work for the airline. 

At one point, the maskless man starts picking up stanchions and throwing them to the ground before threatening staff with one as they try to talk him down. He briefly walks away, kicking a wet floor sign and continuing to scream, but then returns. 

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Things escalate further, with him throwing a punch at the same man he was initially threatening, which actually just makes him fall to the ground himself.

Authorities eventually showed up and took the man into custody. He was later identified as a veteran going through some sort of crisis and was taken away via medical stretcher.

As video of the incident has spread online, the fact that he’s wearing no mask has led people to speculate that that was the cause of his outburst, but it is ultimately still uncertain.

However, a bystander told Local 10 News that the man was turned away from his gate for being aggressive and possibly intoxicated after getting into a physical altercation with his girlfriend shortly before the events of the video.

Despite reports that the man was a veteran in “crisis,” people were appalled at his behavior.

My 2 y/o took 4 flights (1 layover each for a round trip) a few weeks ago and took her mask off in frustration 2 times for a total of about 60 seconds combined. So she had her mask on with no complaints for roughly 19 hours and 59 minutes without crying once.

— Rory-BlackLivesMatter (@BRGHFan) August 28, 2021

Sometimes “consequences” are getting mental health care. Punishment for someone having a mental health breakdown will not prevent more bad behavior nor deter it in the first place.

— Lauren Rosenthal (@LAWrenRosenthal) August 29, 2021

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He had the wherewithal to not actually hit anyone, he knew what he was doing, mental crisis or not. This is a behavioral thing and it shouldn’t be excused.

— One Piece Supremacy (@dukehibana) August 29, 2021

The fact that he reconsidered actually beating someone with the stanchion makes it seem like a performance, like watching Marlon Perkins talk about how the male gorilla beats his chest to warn other gorillas. Proud “boy” thinks he’s impressing people.

— Babynurse in Colorado (@babynurse350) August 28, 2021

And others were quick to point out how this likely would have ended differently had he not been white.

Let me be clear: there’s no scenario in which someone who looked like me, with my name, could get away with even six seconds of behavior like this at an airport, let alone sixty. Where on earth are the police? Security? https://t.co/RY6xUmcxF8

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 28, 2021

Oh contraire, nothing happened. No records.
Taken to some type of hospital. No charges.
Now you see what people of color have been saying over and over and over again.

— Pro-Democracy Observationist (@Annette2233) August 29, 2021

He would took five shots of warnings.

— Vinicius Moraes (@Viniciuspedrozx) August 29, 2021

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We all know he wasn’t. He’s white. I bet they told him to leave and gave him a voucher to burger king

— NathanWingo (@nathan_wingo) August 28, 2021

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, there have been over 3800 incidents of unruly behavior at airports and on flights so far this year, up from a mere 150 back in 2019.

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*First Published: August 30, 2021, 6:28 am