Recently released body camera footage from an officer at the Orlando International Airport in Florida showed an allegedly intoxicated woman being chased around the airport on her motorized suitcase before allegedly battering the officer.
A video recently obtained by WKMG-TV from the incident in April showed the officer telling Chelsea Alston, 32, that she was too intoxicated to board the flight.
As she sat on her motorized suitcase, she began telling Orlando Police Officer Andrew Mamone "f**k you suck my d**k" after he told her to go back to the main terminal.
"Okay Chelsea," Mamone replied as she began to ride away on her suitcase. "Just go to the terminal."
As of February 8, the Federal Aviation Administration has received more than 394 reports of unruly passengers. Around 255 of these incidents were mask-related. But those numbers don't begin to reflect incidents that occur in the airport before a passenger even boards the aircraft.
It is a criminal offense to be intoxicated on an aircraft and if a passenger is intoxicated before boarding the plane the airline staff can refuse entry.
In the bodycam footage, Chelsea continued to tell the officer to "f**k off" and took off through the halls of the airport. Mamone then attempted to follow Alston and said that the suitcase moved faster than he expected.
Mamone then jumped on his bike and began pursuing Alston as she continued through the airport, passing travelers laughing and pointing at the odd scene.
Eventually, Mamone caught up to Alston as she sat on the tram that traveled to the other airport terminals. The two of them quickly got off the tram before the doors closed and Mamone calmly attempted to work with Alston.
"Chelsea, can you do me a favor?" Mamone asked. "Can you roll with me to the main terminal? You can't hang out here it's a secured area."
As Alston drank from a water bottle, she declined to follow the officer and began rolling away on the suitcase.
"Follow me, Chelsea, we'll roll out together," the officer said. "Chelsea I'll race ya. Chelsea let's just roll our little wheels to the other side of TSA okay?"
Mamone promised to leave Alston alone if she followed him but she refused and rolled away again. Mamone warned her that if she continued she'd be arrested for disorderly conduct.
Many U.S. flight attendants have blamed intoxicated passengers for the spike in unruly passenger incidents. Several airlines including Southwest Airlines and American Airlines have stopped serving alcohol on their flights because of this.
In November the FAA proposed a $161,823 fine for alleged unruly behavior involving alcohol, stating that they received nearly 300 reports of alcohol-related disturbances in 2021.
The largest individual fine of more than $40,000 involved a passenger who allegedly drank their personal alcohol on the plane, smoked marijuana in the lavatory, and sexually assaulted a flight attendant in April.
After Alston stood up, she spit water out of her mouth and Mamone said "she's done" as he announced that she was under arrest. She continued to walk and another officer helped to handcuff her and led her out of the airport.
Alston allegedly ripped the fabric apart in the police vehicle and defecated in the seat which resulted in more than $1,200 in damages, WKMG-TV reported.
Alston, who faced a charge for the alleged battery of a police officer, was released from the county jail on a $13,500 bond.
Alston entered a plea deal of not guilty but if convicted, she could face up to five years in prison.
Newsweek reached out to Orlando Police for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Samantha Berlin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on trends and human-interest stories. Samantha ... Read more
