The captain of that flight is the ultimate authority
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." John Dalberg-Acton.
Authority, yes. But this authority has limits. Too many people here purporting (and hopefully only purporting) to be pilots don't appear to recognise there are limits. Maybe you have watched "Catch me if you can" too many times.
Surprising that some pilots are rushing to suggest they would accept responsibility for this and that they are in charge and nothing happens without their consent....... Because any sensible person would run as far and fast as possible from any responsibility for this disaster.
Hopefully the PIC was oblivious and doesn't take the fall. Because someone certainly is.
Someone will have already determined that all possible defendants will be joined in this action. That is already locked in. This is legal SOP and necessary if the case goes to trial and some evidence emerges that points the finger at some party - you want that party to be present in court as a defendant. This case isn't going to trial however. But you still want all possible defendants joined - there is a $ figure which will settle this, and the more defendants the less each one has to contribute and the easier to reach that figure.
The LEO know how bad this is - they have already stood someone down pending investigation.
The aviation people have much less situational awareness. In some ways it is not really their fault (although it is now their problem):
1.Airline staff have had a lot of leeway in a post 9/11 world, and they have used (and abused) this. They can be rude and offend and belittle a pax. If the pax becomes belligerent, they are deemed a security issue and dealt with. I think this attitude of power imbalance is cultured at the Flight Attendant factory - and some of the young cabin crew are susceptible to this power trip. For years now, they have got away with behaviour that simply would not be tolerated in any other customer service industry. Be honest here - how many of you would tolerate being treated in a restaurant the way your company treats your pax (the ones that make you profitable)? Every pax understands safety and security and emergencies. And every pax knows these justifications are over-used and abused every day. Every judge and every jury member will have endured over-officious airline staff - and the lawyers involved will know this. Yet another reason this case is never seeing the inside of a court room.
2. Airline staff have not had to deal with their actions being recorded on phones to the same extent as other industries. Police, EMS, teachers etc have all learned this lesson the hard way. Police know that every arrest or altercation will be recorded - and then edited as necessary before youtube. Aviation will catch up and learn this lesson - I suspect this incident was lesson 1.
This was handled extraordinarily poorly by all concerned. You couldn't have made this up 2 days ago.It completely got out of hand and spiralled out of control - because everyone focused on their rights and authority, and overlooked their responsibilities and common decency. And there will now be a very expensive day of reckoning. And this case will be cited as a textbook case of "How not to...." for many decades to come.
If some of you here really are pilots, I sincerely hope you never fly me or my family. Because I won't trust you with that responsibility while you cling to this delusion of absolute power.