Canadian soccer player choked by passenger while on flight
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A professional soccer player from Canada says he was attacked on a plane. The player says someone woke him up from a nap and grabbed his neck. The attacker tried to use his headphone cord to choke the victim, but other passengers stepped in to stop him.
According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., the victim was Oliver Minatel, a soccer player for the Ottawa Fury Football Club.
The incident happened on an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
"Somebody tried to choke one of our players, out of the blue, and it wasn't a fun moment … and I think some of our guys are in shock, but now everything's back to order," Ottawa Fury coach Dos Santos told CBC News.
The suspect was taken into custody.
Daniel Petrovic told Channel 2's Carl Willis he was waiting in the international terminal when he saw the aftermath of that in-flight drama.
"(There was an) officer in front and an officer in the back of him and both of the officers had a rifle," Petrovic said. "They both walked up the stairs and took him somewhere."
Records show that the flight originated in Toronto and landed at Hartsfield-Jackson at 4:37 p.m. Friday.
Atlanta police confirm that they were called out to help the FBI remove a passenger from the plane.
"It was a calm scene. There weren't a lot of people out here. I was just sitting here and then when they walked out it was pretty calm," Petrovic said.
Willis contacted Air Canada Express about the incident. It sent a statement saying: "The safety of our passengers and crew are our top priority and our crew members are well trained to handle challenging situations. We have a zero tolerance policy with respect to unruly behavior."
Minatel was flying in with his team to play the Atlanta Silverbacks on Saturday.Willis learned he was not hurt and the game will go on.
