Officers remove passenger from Tampa flight to LGA

TAMPA (FOX 13) - A man claiming to be an "officer" was removed from a Delta flight leaving Tampa International Airport Tuesday. 

Delta Flight 2646 from Tampa to LaGuardia was scheduled to leave Tampa around 3:30 p.m. but had been delayed for about two hours according to FOX 13's Kellie Cowan, who was on the flight and described what happened.

Cowan said the man and his wife boarded the plane together, but he seemed agitated when they got to their seats.

The man was apparently upset because the overhead bin above his seat was full. Cowan said it seemed the man began to yell at a woman whose bag was in the overhead bin before taking the bag and throwing it into the aisle. 

Cowan said flight attendants came to the man and tried to help calm him. She said they offered to help him with his bag and offered to put him on a different flight but finally resorted to calling airport security officers to remove the man.

In a video taken by Cowan, two officers and a flight attendant standing next to the man sitting in his seat.

The officer says, "Sir, you created a disturbance on the flight. Sir, the pilot does not want you on the plane. Sir, Delta is going to rebook you on another flight."

The man asks "Why?" in the middle of the officer's statements. He then says he hasn't seen the pilot, to which the officer responds, "You don't have to see him. It's the pilot's plane."

"Sir, are you going to get off the aircraft or am I going to have to use force?" the officer asks before the video ends.

A second video shows the man walking off the plane with one officer in front of and one behind him. Cowan said other passengers applauded the officers for removing the man from the flight, which finally took off around 6 p.m.