Police officers at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport dragged a passenger off a Delta Air Lines flight Monday after she refused to follow rules for boarding the plane, Delta and airport officials said.
The passenger, who has not been identified, got on the flight bound for San Diego without “complying with boarding and baggage check procedures,” Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter told ABC News.
“The passenger was removed by local law enforcement, and the flight was able to continue without further incident,” Banstetter said.
The incident was captured on video by another passenger and posted to YouTube by Rene deLambert, a travel blogger. In a post Monday, deLambert said a reader of his blog who was on the flight told him police tackled the woman after she rushed through the terminal and onto the plane without checking in:
“She didn’t check in with gate agent and walked right on. [The] woman blew by gate agent and didn’t check in because she wasn’t an early boarder and deserved overhead bin space. Colleague in back by her said she was mouthy and had a huge attitude. Police tackled her out of her seat and brought her to the ground. Not sure how she was subdued, some people speculated a taser.”
In the video, which has been viewed more than 120,000 times, passengers can be seen craning their necks to look into the back of the airplane, where officers are huddled over the woman.
“I think they Tased her,” one onlooker can be heard saying.
“Yeah, she was out in front,” says another. “Okay, everybody watch out. She’s coming through.”
The video shows a uniformed police officer dragging a woman in a red short-sleeve shirt by her wrists down the carpeted center aisle. The woman, face up and with her eyes open, is limp and expressionless as the officer pulls her to the front of the airplane. Another officer grabs her by the ankles to help carry her through the exit.
“That’s some crazy s—,” one man says, as other passengers break out in chuckles. Through the whole thing, the captain seems to ignore the scene in the cabin and can be heard on the intercom reciting the flight time and temperature at their final destination.
The woman is facing criminal charges in Romulus, Mich., where the airport is located, the Associated Press reported.
Delta and airport officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday morning.
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