A Delta Million Miler had to be handcuffed after refusing to leave a flight in Detroit when flight attendants suspected he might be intoxicted…then casually placed a McDonald’s order while under arrest.
Delta Million Miler Handcuffed After Drunken Outburst, Orders McDonald’s During Arrest
Carl Dvorak, an executive at Epic Systems and a longtime Delta flyer, boarded flight 3166 from Detroit (DTW) to Madison (MSN) last November under the influence (the police body cam footage was only recent released). He fell asleep almost immediatley upon boarding and had to be shaken awake by a flight attendant to buckle up beore departure (and to make sure he was okay…). He asked for a barf bag, began filming flight attendants, and even dropped the line, “Do you know who I am?” The crew asked him to step off the plane, but he responded, “Bring on the Sheriff.” As has become policy at US airlines so as to avoid viral David Dao incidents, eventually all passengers were deplaned except for him.
“You’ll Have To Drag Me Off”
Police officers from the Wayne County Airport Authority boarded the aircraft after Dvorak refused to leave. He told them: “I’m not going to unbuckle my seatbelt… you’re going to have to drag me off.” Moments later, he was in handcuffs.
The bodycam footage is worth a few minutes of your time: you can see it for yourself below–
Dvorak insisted being cuffed would help him file a lawsuit, argued with officers about who should keep his ID, and then, incredibly, ordered McDonald’s while still under arrest (nad perhpas even more incredible is that the police officers seem to play along with him).
Asked if he had ever been arrsted, Dvorak said no. One officer replied: “Well, today’s your first arrest.” Afterward, Dvorak issued a statement:
“The way I acted on the plane Wednesday was inappropriate. I have apologized to the airline and their staff, and I apologize to the other passengers.”
No official explanation was given for his behavior, though I think it’s clear alochol is to blame (and he did admit to consuming “one” drink and reportedly smelled of alcohol).
CONCLUSION
Million Miler status may get you out of eonomy class with the occasional upgrade, but it won’t get you out of handcuffs. As always, frequent flyer status is no shield against accountability. Here, it also provides us with one of the most cringe-worthy viral aviation clips we’ve seen in a long time…
Hat Tip: View Fom The Wing
It would be a Bad Image all around if you Represent the Airline, not necessarily the Employee, but, as a Dedicated Customer to Wreck the Place.
There’s a gallows scene in “Hang ‘Em High” where various condemned criminals are given an opportunity for last words and one of them engages in a long rambling speech while the other convicts are shown how they spend their last moments along with the anxious titillation of the crowd including small children watching a hanging as entertainment (they didn’t have TV after all.) When I was younger, I largely ignored the speech but upon another viewing I found it touching.
The condemned man states that he wouldn’t have done what he did (presumably kill a man in a bar fight) if he had been sober. He calls alcohol a “demon you take into your body” and so on. It sounded religious and I think I dismissed it back then but upon watching it again with a 2nd viewing, it’s something that the crowd and many should have listened to.
A LOT of lives have been lost due to alcohol but as a vice, it has risks like any other including spending too much money on unnecessary travel or buying overpriced airport kitsch. Balancing our interests with our personal and professional lives requires discipline but also, humility. What’s our limit? We’re shamed sometimes for having an alcohol limit (I’ve witnessed it) along with limits on what we should spend on.
I’ve only gotten drunk so badly that I got ill that I was ashamed of 3 times in my life, twice when I was young and about 10 years later when friends pushed me to drink more than I should have. I’m glad that’s all it was (just a minor bathroom problem) but after that, I was careful to monitor my alcohol intake.
I’ll educate my daughter on this, but I also think our society should have high school classes on how to properly manage alcohol consumption, know your limits, and to stand up for yourself socially.
Personally, I know how to limit myself when I drink. And usually, I will not often drink when flying since I don’t want to do anything embarrassing and end up on social media.
Flying or not, video of the most egregious behavior when intoxicated should make many aware of of the devastating consequences of alcohol abuse. Perhaps this alone could give value to social media. Don’t want to see it? Stay sober.
Alcohol itself isn’t to blame, of course. It’s not a demon, it’s not a devil incarnated. Quite the opposite – it’s just a beverage. One that people can either enjoy responsibly or not. This person – like surprisingly many Americans – cannot hold their liquor. I’m always somewhat at a loss to recognize why Americans vilify Europeans for having “such an alcohol forward culture” and yet such events seem to happen much more rarely in Europe than they do in the US – I’m quite certain that it’s a cultural thing linked with the way alcohol is used and portrayed (being exposed gently from a reasonable age – like the archetypical glass of wine with dinner for children – versus the “no drinking at all before 21”).
Alochol itself is amoral, like money. But it can lead to some bad outcomes!
Hello Grzegorz, don’t tell anyone, but you have the same name as the password to my router!
I agree that American’s prohibition era laws on alcohol have led to bad consumption habits such as unsupervised binge drinking by teenagers that has gotten so bad that there are articles of people passing out from it repeatedly. I think if my introduction to alcohol had been better, I wouldn’t have had those two bad incidents which are minor by comparison.
It’s not a matter of “holding liquor”. NOBODY can “hold” an unlimited amount of liquor. Andre the Giant could hold enough liquor to satiate an entire bar and famously passed out in one during filming of The Princess Bride so the restaurant simply taped off where he had passed out because nobody could lift him to take him out.
Being supervised and in a supportive environment when starting means a lot such as Europeans giving teens beer or light wine first.
Is the second part Brzęczyszczykiewicz? 😛
Absolutely, it was a mental shorthand with “holding liquor”. Nonetheless, I think we both agree that the puritanical approach that most Americans have towards alcohol leads to more unwanted outcomes than the European one – which is more open, supportive and – dare I say it – honest in its execution. People do drink, have drunk and will be – but if they’re introduced to it with supervision, care and a sense that “yes, it’s something you may enjoy responsibly” they’re less likely to binge drink.
I loved that movie!
Gross.
Am I the only one here that thinks the crew is on a power trip?
Was he intoxicated? Probably but so does many millions of flyers out there in the sky right now.
Was he a harm to anyone, I don’t believe so.
If he fell asleep that easy, he would probably wake up after they landed.
The thing that provoked him is probably the authoritarian power trip crew.
I hope he sues the airline and set an example of accountability. For the airport officers, I feel bad that they always have to enforce power trip laws. And abusing one sided power.