Craig Tornberg, general manager of the New England Revolution soccer team, who helped subdue a naked, threatening man when the team was flying from Boston to Los Angeles last month, talked about the incident and his 15 minutes of “superhero fame.”
When Tornberg saw the nude made leaving the bathroom, he said he was shocked and surprised: “I was disturbed. I looked at our VP of player personnel, Mike Burns, to see if I was dreaming this or imagining. He was laughing. That’s when I asked him to take out his earbuds. I said, ‘I’m going to confront this guy. I might need some backup.'”
Tornberg told a flight attendant about the man. “I tell him there’s a naked fellow in the plane,” says Tornberg. “He said, ‘Omigod, can you show me?’ Looking back, I’m thinking, ‘There’s not many naked people on this plane.’ … The man was in a three-seat- across, all to himself, naked, relaxing, like he was in a hammock.'”
But the incident got serious when the man, who finally got dressed, bolted toward the door and put his hands on the emergency window. That’s when Tornberg subdued him and flight attendants tied him up with plastic zip handcuffs. “I think I’ve been deputized,” joked Tornberg.