by Donald Wood
Last updated: 8:35 AM ET, Fri March 6, 2020
An English woman is facing jail time after she allegedly bit the captain of a flight after a fight over a stroller at Heathrow Airport last year.
According to BBC.com, Henrietta Mitaire's flight had just landed in London when she got into an argument with crew members over her child's stroller being stored with the checked luggage when the pilot intervened to calm the situation.
Instead, the arguments escalated and Mitaire said the pilot bumped her shoulder aggressively, so she took out her phone to record the situation. The pilot then reportedly tried to take her phone, causing a "tussle."
During the altercation, Mitaire allegedly bit the captain in an act of self-defense.
"In a desperate attempt to relieve the pressure so I could breathe, I used my teeth to try and get him off me," Mitaire said in a court statement obtained by BBC. "All my actions during this altercation were in self-defense, most of them in a state of extreme fear."
Mitaire was found guilty of assault by beating and given a four-month sentence, suspended for one year. In addition, she is under a court-mandated curfew and has been ordered to pay $3,383 in court costs and compensation to the captain.
"You behaved in a way that was completely unacceptable and caused significant injury and the whole thing was caused, in effect, because you could not take your buggy on to the plane with you," the judge said. "When you were asked to leave the plane, instead of being sensible and saying, 'I will make my complaint at a later stage,' you escalated matters."
In February, two easyJet passengers were arrested at Edinburgh Airport for a violently bloody fight that left the plane splattered with blood and several crew members in tears.
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