First Class Passenger Assaults American Airlines Flight Attendants, Loses It During Arrest
A severely drunk 23 year old American Airlines first class passenger threatened flight attendants, assaulted them and threw her luggage at them on a flight to Dallas. Police responded to the gate on arrival at DFW airport. The passenger told officers that she was the one mistreated, though, and that American’s cabin crew were harsh with her.
Police decided that she was so inebriated that she couldn’t be left unsupervised. They arrested her, and she she became hostile towards them.
Video is worth watching if only for a rare glimpse of Dallas – Fort Worth airport jail, which most people don’t get to see. Just be aware up front that the passenger’s language is frequently not safe for work (or work from home):
The passenger had one jack and coke on the plane, according to crew, so presumably she had alcohol before the flight, too. Flight attendants had conferred with the captain who radioed ahead for law enforcement.
In the video you can see law enforcement meet the flight, and a flight attendant explains that the woman threated to “kick [her] ass.” The flight attendant said she was “too scared” to say anything to the passenger about the police being there, so they let her off like any other flight.
Sitting in row 1, she was first off the plane and encountered the officers waiting for her on the jet bridge. They escorted her to the gate area for questioning over her inflight conduct. She explained that it was her first time traveling solo (without her mother) and her first flight since she was a teenager.
I think my favorite part is when she admitted to “an alcoholic beverage, I was in first class, they were obligated to give me that.” (Emphasis mine.) Also she calls herself “a regular citizen of society.” During questioning she explained her side of the story.
- The flight attendant was supposed to provide service, but didn’t even look at her or acknowledge her, “I paid money for that s—.”
- She didn’t do anything abnormal “just look at the cameras on the plane.”
Officers arrested her. She wanted to immediately contact her ride that was picking her up at the airport. They wouldn’t allow it until she was in temporary detention to sober up, and she became even more agitated.
Once in custody, they explained, she could make unlimited phone calls – and she faced only a minor charge ‘equivalent to a traffic violation.’ (It was a public intoxication charge, a class C misdemeanor.) That didn’t settle her. She was heading into confinement – the airport’s on-site jail – and she lost it. That lead to even greater confinement, restraint by the officers.
The events took place October 22, but police body cam video have only more recently become available.
(HT: Live and Let’s Fly)
