Thank goodness for ‘Dean’ No security, so passenger subdued man at airport

Sydney man Dean, who didn’t provide his last name, to intervene because “there was no security in sight”.

The incident was captured on video as Dean tried to subdue the man and contain the situation.

“As soon as I saw the little girl run away, this guy was going off, I couldn’t understand what he was saying, and being a father you just think ‘Nah this isn’t going to happen anymore’,” he told 2GB’s Ray Hadley.

“I just ran in I didn’t even think about it.”

The man started throwing punches at Dean, who was returning home from a golfing holiday, before two of his mates from Winston Swingers golf club “ran over” and helped.

“There was no security around and that was the thing that was a bit scary because it went on for about a minute before this guy started attacking the machine,” Dean said.

The group wrestled the man to the ground and held his hands behind his back.”

Dean was “looking around waiting for security to jump in” but nothing happened.

“It was 5-6 minutes until police took over from there.”

Hadley pointed out that if “someone (was) wanting to cause serious injury ... the security was lax”.

The AFP eventually arrived and “carted the man off”.

A spokesperson for the Australian Federal Police said the organisation “detained a 29year-old man after reports that he was damaging property and threatened an individual”.

The Gold Coast Airport did not respond to questions about whether or not its security team was staffed and equipped to deal with minor or major security breaches.

“Gold Coast Airport acknowledges an incident that occurred in the terminal on Monday 29 May, when a man became violent and was restrained,” a statement from Gold Coast Airport read.