Video surfaced on social media of a woman punching a Delta flight attendant after she and her boyfriend were reportedly kicked off the plane.
BBC journalist Suzanne Kianpour confirmed the woman refused to correctly wear her face mask on a flight from Atlanta to Miami on Monday.
Here’s what happened on our @delta flight from #Miami to #Atlanta tonight after a passenger refused to wear a mask as per policy and then gets into altercation with flight attendant. Video via @kingcoreythefirst on IG pic.twitter.com/TBBYq1VCBb
— Suzanne Kianpour (@KianpourWorld) October 20, 2020
Passenger Lauryn England also shared video of the altercation on her Instagram account, according to the New York Post.
“Ughhhh this literally happens right in my face,” England captioned the video. “All I want to do is get home at this point! How you mad cause your boyfriend caused the WHOLE flight to be turned around & delayed cause he don’t want to put his seat belt on? and they been asking y’all to get off the flight for the past hour.” (RELATED: Fight Breaks Out On Allegiant Airlines Flight After Man Refuses To Put Face Mask On)
Delta released a statement regarding the situation and claimed the “safety” of its customers was “important” and confirmed the two were kicked off the flight because they would not comply with the mask policy.
“There is nothing more important than the safety of our people and customers,” Delta said in a statement, according to the outlet. “That’s why two customers who did not comply with crew safety instructions were asked to deplane Flight 1997 this evening [sic]. ”
“We do not tolerate violence of any kind and this situation is currently under investigation,” the statement reportedly continued. “We apologize to customers for the flight delay this caused.”