Airliner makes emergency landing at LaGuardia Airport after passenger causes ‘security incident’

 First responders swarmed LaGuardia Airport on Saturday when a New York-bound flight made an emergency landing over a passenger’s suspicious behavior, officials said.

American Airlines Flight 4817 from Indianapolis — operated by Republic Airways — landed at LaGuardia just after 3 p.m. after a “security incident,” the Federal Aviation Administration and Port Authority Police Department said.

People aboard the craft reported suspicious and erratic behavior from a passenger in the air, said Port Authority spokesman Tom Topousis.

 

Police, fire, and EMS personnel respond after an American Airlines flight was evacuated on landing Saturday at LaGuardia Airport. (Jeff Bachner/for New York Daily News)

The pilot then radioed air traffic control to clear the runway for an emergency landing.

Passengers disembarked the plane by emergency slides onto LaGuardia’s Runway 4 just short of the plane’s intended gate, Topousis and other officials said.

As the plane was evacuated, firefighters attended to a man facedown on the runway as confused travelers mulled about the tarmac, video shot by a passenger and posted to Twitter shows.

Port Authority officers responded to the airport and cleared the situation. All 78 passengers and four crew members were safely removed from the aircraft, officials said.

There were no injuries.

The suspicious passenger was taken into custody and was still being questioned around 6 p.m., authorities said.

The PAPD is still investigating the incident, officials said.