The friendly skies are not so friendly anymore.
This time a fight broke out on a Southwest plane before it even got off the ground.
One passenger dressed in a blazer said another man, who passengers said had tattoos, “approached me aggressively” on Fight 117, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported. The flight was supposed to take off from Dallas to Phoenix, CNN reported.
The second man apparently bumped into the wife of the first man, which apparently prompted the altercation, NBC News reported.
A video shows other passengers on board the plane trying to defuse the situation while one man held another in a headlock, others can be heard saying, “Get off of him,” “let go” and “stop hitting him.”
Both men involved left the plane before it was able to take off. The man who was hit did not want to at first, witness Caitlin Johnson said.
“Someone came up to the tattoo guy and said, ‘Sir you have to get off the plane, you need medical attention,’ " Johnson told NBC News. “He said, ‘I can’t I have to go to work.’ But he got off. His face was swollen like a baseball, he was in rough shape.”
The Dallas Police Department responded to the incident but said no arrests were made, CNN reported.
USA Today reported that the flight arrived in Phoneix on time, saying, “We commend our crew for managing the situation as safety professionals while also ensuring the comfort of the other passengers in the cabin.” The airline did not go into detail about the incident.
As for the man in the blazer who started hitting the other man, Johnson told NBC News she reached out to him on Instagram where she said he apologized. She said he is seeking counseling and is telling young people who saw the video to “please walk away cuz violence is not the answer.”
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