Pictured (L-R): Capt. Daniel Kult, Sgt. John Dietrick and Pfc. Alexander Meinhardt
Three U.S. Marines, including a Coon Rapids native, prevented a potentially dangerous situation from escalating on an international flight early Monday morning. Capt. Daniel Kult, a 2011 Coon Rapids-Bayard graduate, was traveling to the U.S. partway through a six-month deployment in Okinawa, Japan when the incident occurred. Joining Kult on the flight was Sgt. Jon Dietrick and Pfc. Alexander Meinhardt, all from the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines. Kult says they were about halfway through the flight when he became aware of the disturbance.
According to Kult, the shouts from the passenger were clearly threatening and he quickly joined Dietrick and Meinhardt to assist the flight crew however they could. Kult says they needed to subdue the man after attempts to calm him failed.
The individual started to calm down some after he was detained. However, Kult says he did try to escape his restraints several times while on the way to Los Angeles to turn him over to law enforcement.
Kult says the passenger was taken into custody not long after landing, and they were quckly back on their way to the flight’s original destination at Dallas-Fort Worth. The incident remains under investigation by the California Office of the U.S. Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Kult is now back on base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and is completing his 14-day quarantine following international travel.
