Photo Courtesy of Instagram (@thomasshannondp)
Recently, a video showing a female Spirit Airlines passenger assaulting a male employee went viral. The company made a statement on Friday announcing that they suspended that employee for fighting back against his attacker at the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport.
The incident occurred on July 11, but the video, shot by cinematographer Thomas Shannon, recently garnered close to 11 million views. Despite the employee being harassed, it was he who got suspended.
In the video, a woman and male Spirit Airlines employee were arguing, but it’s unclear what started it. The woman assaulted the man, and he warned her never to place her hands on him ever again in her life. Disregarding the warning, she repeatedly shoved him and yelled homophobic slurs. Still, the man refrained from retaliating.
Eventually, a bystander got between the bickering two to de-escalate the matter. The woman didn’t see it that way because she reached over the bystander to slap the employee on his head. Since the male bystander was blocking the employee, the customer thought she could run off to safety. But the employee proved he wasn’t the one after he shoved the bystander aside and went for the woman, falling while doing so and taking the woman down with him. When back on his feet, the man stalked towards his attacker and struck her in the head.
A few more people attempted to hold the agitated man back, and the Spirit Airlines customer continued running her mouth. Another man stepped in to defend the woman. He told the heated employee to fight a man instead of a woman, squaring up to him.
“I’ll fight whoever,” the employee responded.
The video ended abruptly afterward.
In part two, posted by Shannon, the two men continued arguing, with Shannon telling them to calm down.
“You saw what she did,” the employee told the man defending the woman.
“But you’re the personnel. You don’t have to touch her,” the man argued back. “Call security.”
After they broke away from each other, the woman who attacked the employee was still running her mouth while about to board Spirit Airlines’ plane.
“We are aware of this altercation,” Spirit said. “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.”