Woman charged with assaulting 80-year-old Delta passenger in mask row is former ‘Baywatch’ actress

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

The woman accused of assaulting an elderly Delta Air Lines passenger is a former TV actress with credits on Baywatch and Married… with Children, according to the Internet Movie Database.

Patricia Yannet Cornwall was charged with assault on 24 December, after a viral video appeared to show her hitting and spitting on an 80-year-old man aboard a Christmas Eve flight from Tampa to Atlanta. Ms Cornwall was arrested when the plane landed.

But according to IMDB.com, this was not Ms Cornwall’s first brush with fame. The site says she was born Patricia Yanet [sic] Breton, and took the stage name Patty Breton for her TV credits.

She allegedly appeared on Baywatch in 1989, Married... with Children in 1987, and two Playboy programmes in 1997, one of them titled Women Behaving Badly.

Also, according to records dug up by The New York Post, in the early 1990s Ms Cornwall was a cheerleader for the NFL’s Los Angeles Raiders (now Las Vegas Raiders).

But the Twitter video of Ms Cornwall on Flight 2790 may prove to be her biggest hit. As of Tuesday, the footage had racked up 8.7 million views.

On Friday, Ms Cornwall was charged with “assault by striking, beating or wounding”, a Class A misdemeanor. If found guilty, she could face up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

On Monday she made her first court appearance, but has not yet made a plea. The Independent has reached out to Ms Cornwall’s lawyer for comment.

The criminal complaint against Ms Cornwall describes the altercation in lurid detail. According to a police interview with the male passenger, referred to as “RSM”, it all began with a separate argument between Ms Cornwall and a flight attendant.

“RSM stated Cornwall was returning from the restroom from the rear of the aircraft when she encountered the flight attendant and beverage cart blocking the aisle,” the document says.

The flight attendant reportedly asked Ms Cornwall to sit in another seat until beverage service was finished. At that point, Ms Cornwall allegedly responded, “What am I, Rosa Parks?”

Then the male passenger chimed in.

“RSM believed Cornwall’s comment was inappropriate,” and told her so. That’s when the two of them started arguing.

Video footage shows that at one point Ms Cornwall commanded RSM to put on a mask, even though she herself was not wearing one. Things quickly escalated.

“RSM stated he told Cornwall to ‘sit down Karen’ to which Cornwall responded, ‘sit down p****,’” the complaint continued. “Additional derogatory comments were made by both parties involved.”

The video shows Ms Cornwall and RSM hurling multiple foul-mouthed epithets at each other, and then things turn violent.

“Cornwall then struck RSM with a closed fist, striking RSM about the head, causing visible injury,” the criminal complaint says. “Cornwall then spit in RSM’s face and head area.”

After a struggle, Delta employees were eventually able to restrain Ms Cornwall and pull her away from RSM. She was arrested when they landed in Atlanta.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, the mask requirement on airlines has become a huge focus of disruptive behaviour. Over the past year, there have been 5,779 unruly passenger reports, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Of those, 4,156 were mask-related.