Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

‘I will die for my family’: Fight erupts on Southwest Airlines flight after passenger bumps into man’s wife

‘I will sit down in jail for you approaching my family,’ says passenger

Joanna Whitehead
Wednesday 08 March 2023 07:50 EST
Comments
Video footage shows the altercation onboard the Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix
Video footage shows the altercation onboard the Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix (Twitter/@dhsweettees)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A fight erupted onboard a Southwest Airlines flight in Dallas after a man accused another man of “approaching his family aggressively”.

Video footage from onboard the plane shared on Monday 6 March shows a man wearing a blazer and a baseball cap attacking a heavily tattooed fellow passenger and shouting at him.

Other travellers can be seen trying to break up the altercation.

The man in the blazer is seen repeatedly swinging punches at the other passenger while holding him in a headlock and shouting, “You a p****, you a p****”.

Onlookers can be heard shouting, “Do not hit him again” and “step away”.

In a second video, the man in the blazer can be seen telling onlookers his version of events.

“I’ll tell you what happened,” he begins. “He approached me aggressively, with my family… I don’t play with my family.”

He then turns to the other man, saying: “Tell them what happened. Tell them what you did.

“I will sit down in jail for you approaching my family. I will die for my family.”

“That's why I beat your ass. No other reason,” he adds.

The woman who recorded the footage reportedly told Fox News Digital that the tattooed man “bumped into his wife by accident, and he started mouthing off”.

She claimed that the man in the blazer hit the tattooed man “four to five times” before she began recording.

“Thank you for flying with Southwest today,” she captioned the clip shared to Twitter.

“I was late getting home because of this right here.”

According to Fox News Digital, both men were removed from the plane, with the Dallas Police Department stating no arrests were made.

Southwest Airlines said that the flight from Dallas to Phoenix arrived on-time and as scheduled.

“We commend our crew for managing the situation as safety professionals while also ensuring the comfort of the other passengers in the cabin,” a Southwest Airlines spokesperson told The Independent.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in