Yet another U.S. airline employee, this time a Southwest Airlines operations agent, had to be hospitalized yesterday after suffering an alleged assault by an unruly passenger.
Southwest confirmed the incident to CNN in an email, noting that the female passenger in question "verbally and physically" assaulted a female operations agent, who was hospitalized following the attack.
The incident took place at Dallas' Love Field Airport shortly after the unruly passenger was asked to remove herself from a plane bound for New York City's La Guardia Airport shortly after boarding,
Shortly after boarding, 32-year-old Arielle Jean Jackson initiated a verbal altercation with an operations agent at the back of the plane, which led to her being told to exit the aircraft. As she was leaving the cabin, Jackson ensnared herself in a second verbal altercation with a different agent, and this time struck the employee with a "closed fist on the head," Dallas Police said in a statement.
Dallas Police took Jackson straight into custody and told CNN that she was being charged with aggravated assault, while jail records indicate that she's being held on a $10,000 bond. The assault victim was taken to a local hospital, but was released Saturday night to go home and rest.
"Southwest Airlines maintains a zero-tolerance policy regarding any type of harassment or assault and fully support our employee as we cooperate with local authorities regarding this unacceptable incident," the airline stated.
The Hill reported that the spike in unruly passenger behavior, including an unprecedented number of verbal and physical attacks inflicted on airline employees and fellow passengers, has prompted six Democratic lawmakers to write to the Department of Justice earlier this month to ask that the Attorney General prosecute passengers who cause these kinds of disturbances.
"It is well documented that our nation has witnessed a sharp increase in air and airport confrontational behavior, particularly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic," part of the letter read.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced just last week that it had fined 10 such airline passengers a combined total of $225,000, and the week prior had said that it would be referring some of the most egregious examples of physical abuse by passengers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
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