CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — "While watching a movie during my flight from Japan to Texas, I started to hear screaming coming from the restroom on board."
John Dietrick is an infantry assault section leader from Mechanicsville, Virginia. In a Tuesday release, the Marine Corps said he was one of three servicemen to detain a threatening passenger mid-flight on May 4.
Dietrick said the man sounded distraught. The Corps' release said Deitrick, Captain Daniel Kult and Pfc. Alexander Meinhardt "stacked up" outside the lavatory while a flight attendant unlocked the door.
They subdued the man who had been screaming threats, and restrained him with flex ties. Then, the flight was diverted to Los Angeles International Airport while the Marines continued to monitor him.
When the plane touched down, he was taken to a hospital for a "mental evaluation," according to the release.
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Meinhardt, a mortarman from Wisconsin, said he didn't think twice about helping out.
"I knew I had to step in when he became a danger to others and himself," he said.
Kult, the third Marine involved, also treated the situation with matter-of-fact clarity.
"We are well trained and it paid off today," he said in the release. "We didn’t take time to talk it over. We just got ready and did what we needed to help."
They were about halfway through a six-month deployment, when the men (for separate reasons) were cleared for essential travel back to the United States, according to the release.
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Niedziocha, a battalion commander for their regiment, said the quick action was "par for the course" with these men.
"Honestly, I’m not surprised," he said. "I happen to know all three of them, two of them well, and they are all what I would call ‘men of action.’"
The incident is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Angeles.
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