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Video from social media showed security officials dealing with the situation as passengers looked on.

Flight 1775 from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. landed in Kansas City International Airport at about 2:30 p.m. (0830GMT) local time where it was met by law enforcement, American Airlines said in a statement.

"An unruly passenger displaying erratic behavior ... was ultimately subdued by our crew and with the help of other passengers," the airline said without providing further details of the incident.

Passengers initially thought the plane was crashing because of the plane's rapid descent, passenger Mouaz Moustafa told Reuters over the phone. By the time he realized the crew was actually dealing with another passenger, Moustafa said he saw a flight attendant grab a metal coffee pot from the pantry and start hitting the passenger to subdue him.