Ex-NFL Player Arrested, United Worker Fired After Bloody Fight

Dustups involving airline workers and passengers are nothing new, but an incident at New Jersey's Newark airport on Thursday morning appears to be a whole other level. NBC News calls it a "bloody brawl" at the United Airlines check-in counter involving a worker and former NFL player Brendan Langley; the former has been fired, the latter arrested. A minutelong cellphone video of the incident that has been viewed nearly 16 million times seems to show the worker slapping Langley and Langley returning the slap before starting to throw punches. The 27-year-old seemingly begins to walk away when the worker strikes him in the face.

"You saw that s---?" Langley says to someone off camera; the two go at it some more. The worker is knocked down and falls behind the check-in area. When he stands up, he's bleeding above his left eye, and he approaches Langley again, who yells, "You want some more? He wants more ... He works at the airport and he assaulted me." What preceded the fight isn't captured on the video, but United Airlines says Langley—who played for the Denver Broncos in 2017 and 2018 and is now with the Calgary Stampeders, per Touchdown Wire—allegedly improperly used a wheelchair to move his luggage around. He was arrested for assault and released on his own recognizance. NBC New York reports he has a July 20 virtual court date. (More Newark airport stories.)