Woman Forced Off Flight, Charged for Not Turning Off Cellphone
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Broward County Sheriff’s Office (FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) — A woman was forcibly removed from a US Airways flight this week for refusing to comply with flight crew instructions. Much of what appears to have happened was videotaped by a fellow passenger and posted to YouTube (warning: graphic language).
The flight, US Airways 906, was bound for Charlotte, N.C., from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. According to a report obtained by ABC News from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, passenger Lindsay Bien-aime refused to comply with flight attendant instructions prior to takeoff and “became unruly.” The pilot ordered the woman off the plane. Despite orders from Broward County officers who had boarded the flight, Bien-aime “continued to refuse to exit the plane” and “became irate, screaming and yelling profanities.”
ABC News’ attempts to reach Bien-aime or a representative were not successful.
On the four-minute, profanity-laced video, a woman is heard shouting not only at the officers trying to remove her from the flight but at the passengers around her.
“I will hold up this whole [expletive] plane,” the woman can be heard saying. “I don’t care where people gotta go.”
In the video, the woman can be heard repeatedly requesting that a flight attendant come to her seat and explain what she had done wrong before she would leave the plane. Another voice can be heard saying she has “been on her phone the whole time.”
When the woman still wouldn’t budge, the officers attempted to handcuff her, and a scuffle ensued. Two more people who appeared to be passengers came to the aid of the officers.
According to the police report, Bien-aime “scratched, kicked and violently resisted” attempts to remove her from the plane.
She was charged on three counts, including battery, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest with violence.
The incident comes on the heels of another in which a group of 100 students were kicked off an AirTran flight when some of them would not comply with flight attendant requests to put away mobile devices.
US Airways did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
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