The rock is full of punks like that...

in this thread: keyboard jockies talk about shooting people in the kneecaps for punching them.. you guys must have hated middle school

Yeah, and that pax was lucky the captain wasn't Billy T. He would have probably beat him to death.

And they may want to check out the consequences of shooting somebody that is unarmed.

Personally, I think the name of the game is self-defense. If the pilot or F/A decided to use a weapon to inflict injury or harm to the attacker, then the line between defense and offense may become blurred in the eyes of the court. Now as to what constitutes a weapon, that can be defined in many ways, but once either defender or attacker decides to use a weapon during a confrontation the stakes rise as do the consequences.

My question is if the pilot/FA who was attacked in this case decided to punch or kick the assailants in this case would they be within their legal right and protected by both the company and the law?
I would think so, but I defer to anyone with a better understanding of the law in this case.

If this belligerent passenger is doing something to me that will possibly prevent me from flying again (i.e., damage my eye, etc.) I will defend myself by any means necessary and worry about the legal consequences later. Great to hear that some "Able-Bodied Passengers" actually came out & restrained these two morons.

Agreed, and I'm not advocating to start worrying about the "law" in the heat of things when you are being attacked, I'm just curious as to what would happen next. Personally, I think once an individual takes it upon themselves to break the law, attacking an individual, then that perp should have no rights in the eyes of the law. Unfortunately, they still do.

There was a case back when I was growing up where two guys robbed a jewelry store, and while one of the robbers was making a break for it he tripped over a display and crashed through a glass window. Believe it or not, the robber, though convicted, was able to file a liability lawsuit against the store and won a good amount of money from it.

Personally, I think in this case the crew should have removed themselves from the situation, and just had law enforcement handle it.

Oh, I agree, let law enforcement do its job...I don't think the law arrived in time in this case. Yes, legal considerations would be on my mind and well as company policy (plus Mom & the kids!).

Our legal system can be a little effed up at times, that's all I'm trying to say here. If the attackers are being restrained/held down and the pilot/FA continued an assault on either individual, especially with a deadly weapon, then the pilot/FA could find themselves with a assault charges and/or a lawsuit against them.

However, if it's one on one the gloves come off and any attack on either one of these scumbags can be defined as self-defense in my opinion.

First post I agree with here.