Plane’s Crew Provoked Man, Passengers Say

SALT LAKE CITY —  A 19-year-old Las Vegas man who flew into a rage during a Southwest Airlines flight to Salt Lake City and died after being subdued by passengers was partially provoked by the flight crew, some passengers told police.

The Salt Lake City Airport police incident report, obtained Thursday by Associated Press, said that when police boarded the airplane Aug. 11 they found Jonathan Burton unconscious in the center aisle, one passenger’s foot placed on his neck, another on his head and two more on his arms.

The report said Burton became combative about 20 minutes before the flight was scheduled to land, hitting some of the 120 passengers aboard the 737 and pounding a hole in the locked cockpit door.

“Several passengers stated that the flight crew antagonized the young man and that intensified his anger,” the report said.

One passenger, Anne Crawford, 41, of Barstow, said that after Burton attacked the cockpit door, passengers got him back to his seat and calmed him. Then a flight attendant announced that another passenger, a police officer, would take care of the situation, Crawford recalled.

Burton punched the officer in the face, she said. “He was calm, he seemed like he was going to relax, but then he went into this fit again.”

Burton died at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City about an hour after being taken off the plane.