Unruly male model restrained after disrupting flight, FBI says

Several people on board a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Orange County had to restrain an unruly man who was reportedly threatening fellow passengers, FBI officials said.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller identified the man as 26-year-old Arash Durrani, also known as Ash, KTLA News reported Thursday.

According to Eimiller, Durrani was taken into custody when the plane landed and will be charged with interference with a flight crew, a federal offense.

Durrani is an actor, model and founder of Grow Clothing, a company geared toward promoting awareness of social movements and charities, according to imdb.com.

The incident began about 45 minutes into the flight from O’Hare Airport to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana.

Passenger Nona Pitts said Durrani appeared to have been drinking heavily and wouldn’t leave her alone.

“He pulled me back and goes, ‘Nona, give me a kiss,’ and I said, ‘Listen, you’re really drunk. Get away from me,’ ” Pitts, the owner of Salon 5150 in Brea, said. “He was on something. And a lot of alcohol that they probably shouldn’t have given him, because as soon as you got on, he was already drunk.”

Pitts said that Durrani started yelling and walking up and down the aisle, confronting passengers and flight attendants.

Eventually, Durrani’s verbal and physical outbursts got so bad that seven male passengers had to subdue him, witnesses said.

“People were taking their belts to try to tie him up, and it was still hard to restrain him,” Pitts said. “He was very, very strong.”

Another passenger, David Truong, a jeweler from Westminster, sat on Durrani for much of the flight.

“He was trying to punch us, kick us,” Truong said. “He broke a chair.”