Paramedic subdues drunk man who went berserk on Dublin-Dubai Emirates flight

Airline cabin crew were struggling with a passenger causing chaos, when Adrian McCarthy, a paramedic pictured above, responded to an appeal for help over the public address system soon after take-off.

Irish paramedic Adrian McCarthy, who helped subdue a drunk on a plane, and wife Clodagh, during their recent holiday in Dubai. Courtesy-Clodagh McCarthy

DUBAI //A drunken passenger who went berserk on a flight from Dublin to Dubai had to be subdued by five stewards and sedated by a paramedic.
The man, who was travelling with his two young children, had consumed most of a bottle of whiskey and tried to kiss a flight attendant.
Emirates airline cabin crew were struggling with the man when Adrian McCarthy, from Cork in Ireland, responded to an appeal for help over the public address system 45 minutes after take-off.
"He had been brought to the ground by five stewards, he hit his forehead on the way down and was bleeding," said Mr McCarthy, who was travelling with his wife, Clodagh.
"The five of them bound his hands behind his back with tie clips and bound his legs. He was extremely aggressive so they strapped him to a seat. He was spitting and screaming the whole time and he butted me, he was completely crazy."
The passenger's two daughters, aged 10 and 5, were moved to another part of the plane.
"In his bag was a bottle of whiskey which he had bought in duty free, the receipt was there," said Mr McCarthy. "Ninety per cent of the whiskey had gone.
"About an hour-and-a-half into the flight the head purser said they would try to divert it. I said, 'Have we got any medication, because we don't want to divert?' Everybody in that section of the plane was really nervous, there were children crying, we couldn't shut him up."
Mr McCarthy, 43 and a father of three children, administered medication under the supervision of Emirates' medical oversight section, who instructed him by radio. The passenger, a 36-year-old from Dublin, remained bound for the remaining six hours of the flight.
"The whole time he never stopped screaming and shouting. At the end of the flight his children were taken away by welfare in Dubai and the police came in with some paramedics and arrested him."
Mr McCarthy said the drama had started when the passenger tried to kiss a stewardess.
"She was serving him a drink and he went to pull her down to give her a kiss - she told me this herself. She shouted and one of the stewards went to push him, he went to hit one of the stewards and the whole thing took off from there in front of his kids."
Mr McCarthy said the thought of providing medical assistance was the furthest thing from his mind when the disturbance began.
"When I heard the aggressive screaming I thought someone was trying to take control of the plane. So I jumped over my wife and past the trolley, she was getting her food at the time.
"There was no thought of medical, the only thought in my head was someone was taking over the plane, I've got to take them down. The natural instinct was to think that if someone was causing trouble and they got past me then they're heading for the cockpit, and that's one thing that can't happen."
The couple's six-day trip to Dubai was an early present for Mrs McCarthy's 40th birthday next month. She said: "I felt extremely nervous. This man sounded very aggressive and Adrian was stuck in the middle of it.
"Other passengers were saying there was blood. There was a real feeling that the situation was out of control."
An airline spokesman said a passenger on the flight on March 25 was met by security on arrival in Dubai following an onboard incident.

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