A Southwest Airlines flight to Texas was delayed last week when an allegedly drunken passenger refused to disembark the airplane and became violent with police in New Orleans.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office told a local news outlet, the New Orleans Advocate, that the passenger, identified as 25-year-old Kamaryn Gibson, was removed from the May 29 flight because of her belligerent behaviour.
Other passengers onboard the flight captured video of Gibson’s arrest at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. In the since-viral video posted to social media, Gibson appears visibly intoxicated and is slurring her words.
Captain Jason Rivarde, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told the Advocate the woman was asked to leave the plane because she refused to remove her feet from the seat in front of her. Gibson allegedly kicked the head of the passenger in the seat ahead of her.
Gibson, an Olathe, Kan. native, refused to depart the plane “multiple times” despite requests from flight staff and police, Rivarde said. When the police resorted to forcefully removing her from the plane, several passengers can be heard clapping in the video. One traveller shouted an enthusiastic “Thank you!”
“This is not going to end well,” another quipped as Gibson was pulled down the plane’s aisle by three officers.
As police pulled at her arms, Gibson resisted and asked to retrieve her cell phone from her seat.
“I literally need my phone. I paid for that,” Gibson slurred as the officers continued to pull her toward the exit.
“I’m so confused what’s happening,” Gibson said as one officer put handcuffs on her.
“Yeah, well, we’re not,” another passenger replied.
When Gibson asked the passenger to explain what was happening, they simply said, “It looks like you’re getting arrested.”
Rivarde said Gibson continued to fight officers once on the jet bridge. He said she kicked two officers and bit the third on the thigh.
She was eventually restrained in a wheelchair and brought to the airport’s police office.
Gibson was arrested and charged with two counts of disturbing the peace, criminal mischief, two counts of resisting an officer by way of force or violence, and three counts of battery on a police officer.
She was released from the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on May 30 on US$9,750 (nearly $13,000) bond.
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