Unruly airline passenger restrained in seat

A passenger on a plane traveling Thursday from Reykjavik, Iceland, to Kennedy Airport was strapped in a seat for hours -- with duct tape for restraints -- after he became drunk and unruly, officials said Friday.

The 46-year-old man was escorted off Icelandair Flight 615 after it landed about 6:30 p.m. Thursday in New York, according to Ron Marsico, a Port Authority spokesman.

The passenger was taken to a hospital after officers determined he was intoxicated, Marsico said.

No charges were filed; the disturbance wasn't deemed serious enough to warrant prosecution, Marsico said.

A law enforcement report on the incident said the man "became verbally abusive towards the flight crew as well as other passengers to the extent the flight crew restrained the subject for the rest of the flight."

The passenger, who lives in Iceland, drank an excessive amount of duty-free alcohol, a law enforcement source said.

A photo of a gagged man who appears to be strapped to an airplane seat with duct tape has circulated widely on the Internet, after it was posted by a fellow passenger on Tumblr.

A spokesman for the airline, Gudjon Arngrimsson, told an Iceland-based newspaper, Visir, that the man was subdued by passengers and crew after he became unruly, but he declined to discuss the nature of the behavior.