A man who was reportedly being ordered to wear a facemask on a southwest Airlines flight fought back against the restrictions and punched an employee in the face.
It happened at Hartfield Jackson International airport. The two minutes of fighting was caught on video that has now gone viral. In the video 44 year old Courney Drummond can be seen pacing around after being kicked off a flight, according to police, for refusing to comply with the flight crew when the Southwest Airlines flight was taxiing from the gate to the tarmac, causing the pilot to to take the plane back to the gate.
Drummond appears to focus on one employee, passing by many others to reach him, then punches the employee in the face. It is unclear what that employee said or did to Drummond or if he was the employee that attempted to force Drummond to comply before the incident took place.
Drummond was arrested. police say his charges include simple battery, battery, and obstruction. Southwest also released a statement saying Drummond is no longer allowed to fly on Southwest airlines.
According to the FAA the number of incidents on airplanes has sharply increased since airlines started forcing passengers to comply with COVID 19 restrictions – such as wearing a mask at all times.
In Fact, last year nearly 1100 investigation were launched into passengers behavior on flights, there has been nearly 2775 investigations launched so far this year.
The Transport Workers Union of America – which represents more than 16,000 Southwest staff members say that forcing people to wear masks is one of the most difficult part of their jobs saying “The number of physical and verbal assaults in our workplace has increased dramatically”
