Tampa Bay Rays broadcaster Kevin Kennedy and seven other men subdued a mentally disturbed man Friday after he went bonkers on a cross-country flight.
"I am going to bring this plane down!" 46-year-old Stanley Sheffield shrieked as he splashed sleepy passengers on a red-eye Delta Air Lines flight with water from a plastic bottle.
"You need to land this plane or I'm going to blow it up," he said on the Los Angeles-to-Tampa flight. "I will blow up this plane and take you all with me."
He then strode toward the cockpit door, shouting, "Get behind me, Satan!"
The commotion on the flight with 107 passengers and crew woke the dozing Kennedy, who made eye contact with other men in first class. They wordlessly agreed to take action.
"When I stood up, he kind of stared me down," the 55-year-old Kennedy said. "I was probably 4 feet from him.
"As soon as he started to go for the cockpit door, we charged. We took him down. We tied him up," Kennedy said. "But it was not an easy takedown. We finally got him hogtied with seat belt extensions from the plane."
Kennedy said Sheffield broke free twice, snapping one of the extensions and a leather belt before finally giving up.
Sheffield's former wife told the Daily News he's bipolar and has been in and out of mental institutions for the past five years.
"This is a whole new level for his illness," said Mary Sheffield, 46, of Brandon, Fla. "I wouldn't imagine him doing anything like this in a million years. He's been committed three times, but he's never harmed anyone."
"It was the real deal," Kennedy said before the Rays' game against Toronto on Friday night. "There wasn't time to think, just react. When somebody says they're going to blow up the plane, there's no fooling around."
The pilot landed in Albuquerque, where Sheffield was taken into custody and charged with interference with flight crew members and attempted destruction of an aircraft. A federal judge ordered him held pending a hearing Monday.
FBI investigators said they don't believe the incident was related to terrorism.
"I am going to bring this plane down!" 46-year-old Stanley Sheffield shrieked as he splashed sleepy passengers on a red-eye Delta Air Lines flight with water from a plastic bottle.
"You need to land this plane or I'm going to blow it up," he said on the Los Angeles-to-Tampa flight. "I will blow up this plane and take you all with me."
He then strode toward the cockpit door, shouting, "Get behind me, Satan!"
The commotion on the flight with 107 passengers and crew woke the dozing Kennedy, who made eye contact with other men in first class. They wordlessly agreed to take action.
"When I stood up, he kind of stared me down," the 55-year-old Kennedy said. "I was probably 4 feet from him.
"As soon as he started to go for the cockpit door, we charged. We took him down. We tied him up," Kennedy said. "But it was not an easy takedown. We finally got him hogtied with seat belt extensions from the plane."
Kennedy said Sheffield broke free twice, snapping one of the extensions and a leather belt before finally giving up.
Sheffield's former wife told the Daily News he's bipolar and has been in and out of mental institutions for the past five years.
"This is a whole new level for his illness," said Mary Sheffield, 46, of Brandon, Fla. "I wouldn't imagine him doing anything like this in a million years. He's been committed three times, but he's never harmed anyone."
"It was the real deal," Kennedy said before the Rays' game against Toronto on Friday night. "There wasn't time to think, just react. When somebody says they're going to blow up the plane, there's no fooling around."
The pilot landed in Albuquerque, where Sheffield was taken into custody and charged with interference with flight crew members and attempted destruction of an aircraft. A federal judge ordered him held pending a hearing Monday.
FBI investigators said they don't believe the incident was related to terrorism.
