Man causes emergency landing at Atlanta airport after being caught with box cutter

ATLANTA — A Frontier Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport last week when a rowdy passenger was found with a box cutter.

A spokesperson for Frontier says that flight was heading from Cincinnati to Tampa on November 11.

Flight attendants told police that the man was standing at the back of the plane, refusing to sit down and said he was going to “cut” someone, according to police reports.

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While the passengers were getting off the plane, the flight attendants began to yell to officers that the man, later identified as William Liebisch, was running toward the front of the plane.

The police report says that another passenger tackled Liebisch.

In newly released body camera video, Liebisch can be heard launching into a profanity-laced tirade as he is being put in handcuffs.

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Officers found a yellow Dewalt box cutter in Liebisch’s jacket pocket.

Flight attendants told police that a woman seated near Liebisch said she heard him say he was going to stab someone. Liebisch later began saying people were after him and would not stay seated.

TSA agents say when the man passed through security at Cincinnati/North Kentucky International Airport, his two backpacks were searched. Agents found a box cutter in one of the backpacks, took the blades out and gave it back. Officials say this is not standard operating procedure. The second box cutter was not found.

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Plane headed to Tampa makes emergency landing at Hartsfield-Jackson

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