"I had a panic attack" Man tries to smash window - passengers detain him

A rioter on board a Frontier Airlines flight en route from Denver to Houston had to be restrained by fellow passengers. He had previously tried to smash a window in a rage.

Flight F9 4856 took off from Denver last Wednesday and had been airborne for about 20 to 30 minutes toward Houston when a potentially dangerous incident occurred. A woman had asked the man in the row behind her to change seats, passenger Victoria Clark toldABC News.

The man became angry, kicked the woman's seat hard and tried to break the window. "I had a panic attack. I thought it was a terrorist attack," Clark reported.

The man continued to hit the window and eventually broke the Plexiglas of the inner pane, the passengers report. As there was no air marshal on board, the flight attendants asked for help.

Tied to the seat with shoelaces

Tanner Phillips, a former member of the military, intervened at this point. "This guy was just crazy," Phillips describes the situation to the news station. "He was screaming in multiple languages and trying to push out the window." Phillips and several others grabbed the man, tied him up with zip ties and shoelaces and put him back in his seat.

The captain decided to continue on to Houston as planned instead of interrupting the flight. When the plane landed safely in Houston at around 10.20 p.m., everyone was relieved, reports passenger Clark. "People were clapping. Everyone was thanking the passengers who had helped us get there safely."

"I'm really grateful that we were able to handle the situation and that no one was hurt," says Phillips. "You never know what someone is capable of."