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Drunk passenger takes swing at JetBlue employee at Orlando Intl. Airport, police say

By Kevin Williams
By Kevin Williams

ORLANDO, Fla. — A drunken passenger at Orlando International Airport had to be detained after video appears to show him yelling, cursing and swinging at a JetBlue employee before resisting arrest -- in front of his eight-year-old son.

Orlando Police said Brandon Strong, 45, was waiting to board JetBlue flight 801 from Orlando to Salt Lake City on Sunday evening. The flight had been delayed from 6:45 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The JetBlue employee told police it started when Strong called a female passenger an expletive. That employee then told Strong he was not going to travel, police said.

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Video sent to WFTV Channel 9 shows Strong taking a swing at the worker as fellow passengers tried to hold him back.

Orlando police said Strong, who is from Utah, had a strong smell of alcohol on his breath, and refused to comply when officers told him to drop his bags.

According to police paperwork, one officer took Strong by the wrist before Strong said that if the officer did not let go, "bad things would happen."

The officer said Strong was warned three times to drop his bags or else face pepper spray. Instead, Strong tightened his grip on his bags, telling officers that he wasn't going anywhere and that he needed to get on his flight, police said.

Officers said they used pepper spray to get Strong under control, holding him to the ground as he tried to regain control, even ripping an officer's radio and ammunition from the officer's uniform.

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Police said a crowd of people and a JetBlue supervisor helped the officer subdue Strong.

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Police also said Strong, who appears in the video to be white, at one point yelled, "Where is the NAACP?"

Officers eventually dragged Strong out of the waiting area as he was kicking and screaming, even making one officer fall, police said. He was taken to the Orange County Jail.

Police said the entire incident happened with Strong's eight-year-old son present. JetBlue employees watched after the boy while police investigated and arrangements were made for the boy to fly back to Utah.

The fire department also had to be called to treat bystanders who were affected by pepper spray.

Strong faces various charges, including battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer and child neglect, among others.

He bonded out of jail late Monday.

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