Dallas Woman Takes A Southwest Flight From North Carolina. Then The Police Handcuff A Bearded Man In The Boarding Area

A Dallas traveler captured a chaotic scene in the boarding area at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina before a Southwest Airlines flight. Police restrained a disruptive passenger in full view of waiting travelers.

In the video, officers have a bearded man in custody with his hands secured behind his back as airport personnel move him through the gate area in a wheelchair.

As he is escorted away, the man repeatedly shouts, “F*** the police type sh***, f*** the authority.”

The clip was posted by TikTok creator Caci (@curatingcaci) and quickly went viral, garnering over 20.7 million views. “Right message, I guess?” she writes in the video’s caption.

While the outburst and police response grabbed viewers’ attention, much of the discussion in the comments focused on the man’s appearance. 

Many viewers commented on what they saw as a strong resemblance between the detained passenger and American singer-songwriter Noah Kahan.

“Noah Kahan used to be my favorite singer,” one user joked. “Sad to see his life turn out like this.”

Another said the resemblance caused genuine confusion. “Stop, y’all deada** had me thinking this was Noah Kahan, I was hella confused and honestly a bit surprised,” they wrote.

(The detained man was not Noah Kahan.)

Some viewers instead focused on the message the man was shouting as he was taken away. “Right message, questionable messenger,” a third commenter wrote.

There are currently no details about what led to the man’s detainment. 

“Girl I rly wish I knew!!!” Caci responded to a comment asking about what had happened before the scene. “We heard him yelling the same chant from 8 gates down lol.”

Noah Kahan Responds

The singer-songwriter later addressed the situation by posting his own response on TikTok, where he performed a musical rendition of the man’s chant.

“My new vocal stim,” he wrote in the video’s text overlay, responding to a comment under the original clip that read, “Noah Kahan apology video.”

According to screenshots shared in the comments, Kahan also posted a selfie to his TikTok story captioned, “You guys got me thinking I actually was in that airport.”

What Can Get You Arrested At The Airport?

Law enforcement officers have the authority to detain passengers at U.S. airports.

If a traveler has an active arrest warrant, officers can identify it through law enforcement databases and enforce the warrant on the spot.

Passengers can also be arrested for a wide range of offenses, including failure to pay child support, carrying prohibited items, drug possession, or unlawful possession of a weapon. In some cases, arrests happen because of behavior at the airport itself, such as disorderly conduct.

Disorderly conduct laws can be broad, depend on the circumstances, and are entirely subjective. In North Carolina, the offense is defined as “a public disturbance intentionally caused by any person.”

Public disturbance offenses can include fighting or violent behavior, using abusive language or gestures, or refusing to leave a building after being directed to do so by an authority figure.

It’s unclear exactly what happened in this particular case.

BoardingArea has reached out to Caci via TikTok messages and Southwest Airlines via email for comment and additional details. We’ll update this article if they respond.

@curatingcaci Right message, i guess? #southwestairlines #rdu #airport ♬ original sound – caci