An American Airlines passenger on board a flight from Dallas Fort Worth to Los Angeles on Monday wound up “forcibly restrained and dragged off..while cuffed to a wheelchair” after he refused to move to a different seat.

He didn’t like the seat in row 36 so he assigned himself a window seat at the front of the cabin. The passenger actually assigned to that seat showed up, but the man wouldn’t move.

In video of the incident, the seat squatter declares, “Don’t force me, don’t violate my freedom. That’s my seat. You don’t like it? Switch it.” He said that he wouldn’t give up the seat even if police showed up, a proposition that would shortly be tested and falsified.

After using NSFW language in defense of the seat that he had planted his personal flag in, a flight attendant tells him “You can’t talk to anyone like that, you’re getting kicked off of this flight.” And indeed he was removed from the aircraft — something which took four police officers strapping him onto a wheelchair to take him off.

Everyone was taken off the aircraft, and the flight missed D0 by 45 minutes. According to the airline, “American contacted law enforcement due to a disruptive passenger who caused a disturbance during the boarding process.” The man was not arrested.

(HT: Paul H.)