Those drinks knocked a few screws loose.
The American Airlines passenger who had to be duct-taped to his seat on a flight to Newark revealed he threw back a few screwdrivers before his alleged racist and homophobic mid-air meltdown.
Layne Lundeen, 67, told a Maryland judge he downed two of the orange juice and vodka cocktails before the tirade that forced the Sept. 3 flight to make an emergency stop in Maryland, according to The Baltimore Banner.
Fellow passengers had to bind Lundeen, who claimed to have no memory of the outburst, to his first-class seat with duct tape and zip-ties, and he allegedly hit one of the cops who dragged him off the plane.
Lundeen, an Arizona realtor who lost his job after the episode, allegedly hollered profanities and racial slurs and started “blaspheming Jesus and God,” according to the passenger in the next seat, Messianic rabbi Jonathan Cahn.
Cahn said they were casually chatting, but Lundeen snapped when the topic turned to religion.
“I have never seen someone change in a split second from light to dark as I saw then, as if something had taken him over,” Cahn previously said. “He went from the friendliest guy in the world to this dark person.”
Juan Mejia, a retired law enforcement officer who helped tie Lundeen down, said a flight attendant mentioned serving at least one drink, he told CBS.
Mejia said the flight from Dallas, Texas, had been in the air for two hours before all hell broke loose.
Lundeen said his memory of the flight stops well before then.
“I don’t remember any of what happened,” he told a judge in Annapolis, according to The Banner which obtained audio of his appearance.
“I assaulted a police officer? Is that what it says?” he reportedly said. “I don’t have my glasses.”
Lundeen was arrested and charged with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct.
