Passengers Open Delta Flight Cabin Door of Moving Plane and Exit Via Emergency Slide

A man, woman and their service dog slipped out of the emergency exit of a Delta flight at Laguardia Airport in New York City on Monday morning just as the plane began to take off. According to a report from The New York Post, the two opened a cabin door on the plane, which automatically activated the emergency slide, allowing them to slip down to the tarmac beneath the taxiing aircraft. The man, 31-year-old Antonio Murdock, told authorities that his post-traumatic stress disorder was triggered as the plane began to move.

Murdock and his companion, 23-year-old Brianna Greco, were arrested by Port Authority after leaving the moving airplane. A source told the Post that they were both charged with criminal trespass, reckless endangerment, disorderly conduct and obstructing governmental administration. Their dog was taken to the Animal Care Centers of NYC facility in Brooklyn, and Greco was reportedly given a receipt to retrieve it later, indicating that the dog was hers. No one was injured in the ordeal.

The flight was scheduled to leave LaGuardia Airport just before 10 a.m. ET on Monday morning, but it was around 10:55 a.m. that Murdock and Greco made their last-minute escape. The other passengers on the plane were put onto different flights while the plane was examined for damage and the slide was stowed away. The flight was heading for Atlanta, Georgia. "Maintenance technicians have evaluated the aircraft and [it] is scheduled to return to service this evening," a Delta Airline spokesperson told reporters.

Another passenger, Brian Plummer, described the scene inside the plane to The New York Times. He said that Murdock and Greco changed seats several times before the plane could take off, and that just before the aircraft began to move, Murdock jumped abruptly out of his seat. When a flight attendant asked him to sit down, Murdock reportedly told her that he had PTSD, adding: "If I sit down, I'll freak out."

The disruption comes amid huge fears about travel in general, with customers hesitant to board crowded planes during the coronavirus pandemic. Airlines have taken a huge hit due to the spread of COVID-19, but they got good news this week when the new stimulus package included $15 billion to buoy the failing industry.

"We applaud the bipartisan group of senators that drove progress forward, and the congressional leadership for striking a bipartisan agreement to produce this desperately needed assistance," U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said in a statement. "The agreed-upon provisions will give many suffering businesses a bridge to 2021. More will be needed to restore the 4.5 million travel jobs lost in the travel and tourism industry, but the process that produced this agreement is hopefully a positive sign for what will be possible to achieve in the next Congress."