A Spirit Airlines employee was suspended after footage of a physical altercation at an airport with a woman went viral, with the women dropping racist insults.
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WATCH: Spirit Airlines Employee Suspended After Scuffle with Woman Who Called Him ‘Dumb**s’ N-Word
By
Zachary LeemanAug 13th, 2022, 12:11 pm
An airline employee was suspended after a video went viral of him in a physical scuffle with a female passenger. In the minute and a half clip, the two are yelling at each other and the woman can be heard calling him a “f**got” and “dumbass” N-word.”
The altercation took place at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). The footage begins with the two simply exchanging words, but things quickly escalate and as someone tries to separate the two, the passenger begins to use racist language and throws a blow at the employee. The agent then chases after her, brings her to the ground, and hits her in the back of the head. More get involved and try separating the two as they continue screaming at one another.
“Everybody! Back up from me! This bitch put her hands on me,” the unidentified employee says.
The clip ends with a man standing between the two and telling the employee he’s not going to fight a woman.
“You saw what she did,” the employee says.
The viral clip of the incident was marked as happening in July, but Spirit Airlines confirmed in their statement that it actually occurred in August. It’s not yet clear what sparked the disagreement between the two.
“Spirit Airlines does not tolerate violence of any kind, and we are working with local law enforcement to investigate this matter,” the airline said in a statement first reported on by
WFAA. The agent was employed through a “local partner company,” the outlet noted.
The footage was captured and published by filmmaker
Thomas Shannon, who said he was eating at a Panda Express when he heard yelling and raced over to see what was happening.
“I think we need to have the dialogue of physical violence and safety at the airport. And why airports are are so dangerous,” he said after the incident.
In a follow-up video, the employee defends his actions to another passenger and is seen telling others to get the woman in question away from the entryway to her flight.
It’s just the latest example in an increasing number of
airline and airport incidents over the last few years, which particularly spiked during the pandemic over mask requirements.