Passenger taped to seat after groping, punching Frontier Airlines crew during flight to Miami
Flight attendants restrained a passenger to his seat with duct tape during a Frontier Airlines flight last week after he allegedly punched and groped crew members and cursed at fellow passengers.
During a Saturday flight from Philadelphia to Miami, the passenger “made inappropriate physical contact with two flight attendants and subsequently physically assaulted another flight attendant,” Frontier confirmed in a statement to USA TODAY.
“As a result, the passenger needed to be restrained until the flight landed in Miami and law enforcement arrived.”
The man allegedly ordered multiple alcoholic drinks from a flight attendant during the flight and put his hand against the woman’s “backside inappropriately,” according to a police report from the incident, multiple outlets reported.
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The man then spilled a drink on his shirt, went to the bathroom and came out without a shirt on. After a flight attendant helped him get a new shirt from his luggage, he allegedly groped the breasts of another flight attendant. He later came up behind the women “and put his arms around both of them and groped their breasts again,” according to the police report, multiple outlets reported.
A now-viral video shows a male flight attendant asking the passenger to calm down before the passenger can be seen punching him in the face. Flight attendants then taped him to the seat and tied him with a seatbelt extender.
Warning: Video may be disturbing to viewers.
During the video, the man, who is seen without a mask on, can be heard yelling, “You guys (expletive) suck,” and discussing his parents and grandfather’s wealth.
He was arrested on three counts of misdemeanor battery. FBI agents are not pursuing federal felony charges, according to multiple reports.
USA TODAY has reached out to the Miami-Dade Police Department for additional information.
a woman was restrained to her seat on an American Airlines flight after allegedly trying to open the plane’s doors and attacking a flight attendant.