Asher Roth's Guitarist Stops Bomb Threatener

01/08/09 3:04pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Rapper Asher Roth's guitarist/bassist Chris Llewellyn is being hailed as a hero after he helped subdue a man who issued a bomb threat on a flight descending to Los Angeles International Airport.

Llewellyn, who was flying to L.A. with Roth and his bandmates to appear on Late Night With Carson Daly, told the Los Angeles Times newspaper that he heard a flight attendant screaming for help and discovered a passenger trying to open the rear emergency door after he looked to see what was going on. The man was warning passengers not to come near him because he had a bomb.

"I thought this guy was going to open the door," Llewellyn said. "I was thinking, 'I'm not going to go down with the plane.'"

Llewellyn and several other passengers ran towards the man and held him down.

"He was struggling hardcore," Llewellyn told the Times. "I was holding down his arm. Somebody had a foot on his head. Everyone was holding down a different body part. He was going nuts. I was telling him to chill because he's not going any place."

No bomb was found after the plane landed, but 45-year-old Lawrence Johnson was arrested and charged with suspicion of making a false bomb threat when the plane landed safely at LAX.

An expert told the Los Angeles Times that it's unlikely passengers would have been hurt if the man had managed to get the door open, since the plane was descending and was at a relatively low altitude.

Roth's debut album, which currently doesn't have a title, is due out March 17.