Man tasered on Belfast-bound Easyjet flight

A man has been tasered by police on board an aircraft flying from Gatwick airport to Belfast.

The man reportedly wanted to take two pieces of hand luggage on to the plane.

The incident leading to the man’s arrest happened on board an Easyjet flight waiting to depart from Gatwick to Belfast at just after 8am.

According to a Sussex Police spokesman, the incident occured shortly after 8am.

“A man is in police custody after being tasered on an aircraft waiting to depart from Gatwick Airport to Belfast on Thursday morning.

"Police officers were called to the EasyJet flight shortly after 8am to reports of a passenger who was becoming increasingly abusive following a dispute over luggage," he said.

“A man has been arrested on suspicion of breach of the peace. The aircraft has been disembarked and police are taking statements from witnesses among the crew and passengers.”

An EasyJet spokeswoman said: “EasyJet can confirm that police boarded flight EZY831 from London Gatwick to Belfast on August 20th due to a passenger behaving disruptively.

“EasyJet’s cabin crew are highly trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.

“Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously, do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour on board and always push for prosecution.

“The safety and well-being of passengers and crew is always easyJet’s priority.”

A passenger on the flight tweeted that the incident occured because the man “was insistent of wearing his man purse. He tried to insinuate that it was racially motivated”.

PA