A Spirit Airlines agent has been suspended following a physical altercation with a female passenger who directed slurs at the airline employee at Dallas Fort Worth Airport on Thursday.
The incident, which was captured on video by another passenger, has since received more than 9.6 million views on social media as of Saturday. Although a screen graphic says the altercation occurred “7/11/2022,” a Spirit airline official confirmed to WFAA that the incident took place on August 11.
**WARNING – OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE**
— DTX Daily (@dtxdaily) August 11, 2022
The altercation started when she got off a plane after boarding, claiming that there was no seat for her, according to a police report obtained by Fox 4. She reportedly then cut in front of a line to speak to the agent, who is employed by another vendor contracted to Spirit Airlines.
After the agent took her boarding pass, tempers escalated further; the footage begins with the two inches away from each other in a heated argument.
“You have lost your mind. Don’t touch me ever in your life,” the agent is heard saying. “You touched me first, and then you got in my space. Don’t ever invade my personal space.”
The woman yelled back, “Get out of my face!” before saying a homophobic slur to the man.
As tensions continued, a passenger could be seen trying to intervene between the two but to no avail, as the woman could be heard saying a racial slur to the agent before hitting him on the side of the head.
The agent proceeded to chase and tackle the woman and then hit her once. Multiple people were able to come between the two before the incident escalated further.
As the woman was separated from the agent, the airline employee was seen yelling, “Back up from me! This bitch put her hands on me!”
The chaotic scene continued as the agent was seen up close to another man, who challenged him to a fight before the video ended.
Spirit Airlines released a statement on social media following the incident: “We are aware of this altercation. Our vendor at DFW has suspended the agent. Spirit Airlines does not tolerate violence of any kind, and we are working with local law enforcement to investigate this matter.”
Airport police are still investigating the incident, Fox 4 reported.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.
