Authorities forcibly removed a woman from a plane at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans, L.A. Friday after she refused to wear a mask or leave the plane, said a Nola.com report.
When the incident occurred – around 9:30 a.m. – American Airlines flight 1768 was preparing to depart for Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas.
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According to Nola.com, the flight was postponed by around an hour due to the mask issue. Typically, this regular flight out of New Orleans includes passengers making connections to other destinations, the outlet explained.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like it before,” said passenger Patrick Maney, a retired Tulane University professor who barely made his connection flight to San Jose, Calif. “Two heavily armed police came and told the lady to get off. She refused, and they then told her to get up. She was screaming and resisting as they hauled her up and put some kind of restraints on her hands and back.”
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Maney said the woman could be heard screaming for around 10 minutes while deputies held her on the gangway and the plan began to taxi again.
He said she kept repeating that she didn’t want to be treated like an animal. Other passengers were frustrated with the delay, Maney said.
Masks, which can prevent the spread of COVID-19, are required for all passengers on commercial flights per a federal mandate put in place this January and extended in May according to USA Today. The mandate also applies to trains, busses, airports and transportation hubs and it is set to expire in September. Furthermore, Nola.com said the mandate includes fines from $250 to $1,500.
American Airlines spokesperson Derek Walls confirmed the incident.
He said the jet had to return to the gate when the woman refused to put on a mask.
Once she was off the plane, the woman was arrested at around 10 a.m. Friday, said Capt. Jason Rivarde of Jefferson Parish Sherriff’s Office.
He said she was cited for the following misdemeanors: disturbing the peace, remaining in place after being forbidden, resisting arrest and simple assault.
Nola.com said unruly passengers could face criminal prosecution and fines up to $35,000 per a zero-tolerance policy enacted by the Federal Aviation Administration earlier this year.
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The outlet said the New Orleans incident came just a day after a similar scuffle at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on an American Airlines flight bound for Miami, Fla. In that case, a man refusing to wear a mask caused a two-hour standoff on the plane.
According to the FAA, 75 percent of passenger complaints this year have been related to masks and non-compliant passengers have paid more than $700,000 in penalties. American Airlines alone has reported more than 3,200 mask related incidents so far this year, said Nola.com