A woman reportedly attacked two flight attendants on a Spirit Airlines flight to Nashville on Saturday night, was restrained by a fellow passenger, and then yelled at police officers to “shoot me” when they arrested her, an arrest affidavit showed.
Airport police arrested a 42-year old female for public intoxication after the flight crew contacted officers on the ground at Nashville International Airport around 7 p.m., according to the affidavit.
The flight took off from Fort Lauderdale at about 6 p.m., according to Spirit Airlines spokesperson Nicole Aguiar and FlightAware, a flight tracking website.
When the plane arrived, members of the crew told officers that she attacked two flight attendants, punching one and pulling the other’s hair.
Aguiar did not comment on details in the affidavit but said law enforcement officers removed “a passenger for unruly behavior.”
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“We do not tolerate aggressive behavior of any kind, and this passenger is no longer welcome on any of our flights,” Aguiar said in an email.
Before the passenger deplaned, another passenger had restrained her feet with zip ties, the affidavit said. She smelled of alcohol, spoke in a slurred manner, and her eyes were bloodshot. She told officers she drank “a lot,” the affidavit said.
After police arrested her, she yelled at the officers on several occasions, using expletives and saying “I didn’t do anything wrong” and “shoot me,” according to the affidavit. The passenger also resisted getting into the police cruiser, including by stiffening her legs to prevent officers from closing the door.
Davidson County Sheriff’s Office jail logs show that she was admitted into jail on Saturday night at 8:40 p.m., but that she was released 6 a.m., Sunday.
“Thank you to our guests who assisted our crew and local law enforcement for their assistance,” Aguiar said in her email. “We will work with the relevant authorities to ensure this individual is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The affidavit said that the flight crew did not want to press charges against the passenger.
An email from Nashville International Airport spokesperson Kym Gerlock did not offer additional details beyond the information in the affidavit, but Gerlock said “the matter is under investigation.”
Reach Liam Adams at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams.