A woman from New York has been sentenced to four months in prison for interfering with crew members aboard a flight from Dallas to Los Angeles last year, according to federal prosecutors.
The incident occurred on Feb. 24, 2021, when 32-year-old Kelly Pichardo and another first-class passenger reportedly engaged in intimidating behavior on the flight. Both women had to be removed from the plane after it landed at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Airline Passengers Charged with Interfering with Flight Crew and Assaulting Passengers: Kelly Pichardo, of Bronx, New York, appeared virtually in court on charges that she interfered with a flight crew member and committed simple assault. https://t.co/2U02cfPov1
— FBI Phoenix (@FBIPhoenix) July 22, 2021
Authorities said that the women assaulted a passenger during the flight and used racial slurs when a male passenger intervened. When the man tried to record the altercation, Pichardo allegedly spit at him.
The two women were charged for disorderly conduct for verbally and physically assaulting other customers and flight crew members. Pichardo has been ordered to pay nearly $9,200 in restitution to American Airlines as a result of the altercation, and will also serve three years of supervised release after serving her prison sentence.
The other female passenger involved in the incident has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in November. The case was investigated by the FBI and Phoenix police.
Similarly, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was captured getting into a heated argument with airline staff at Bozeman Airport earlier this year.
A video posted on Reddit showed Cruz speaking to two United Airlines staffers after he missed the check-in window for his flight and was told it was too busy to re-book a flight.
The Reddit user who posted the video claimed that Cruz “wouldn’t calm down” while talking to the two female airline employees.
Police reportedly had to be called in to help defuse the situation and confirmed that “re-booking options were limited out of Bozeman due to Spring Break.”
“One of our Public Safety Officers (PSO) was in the ticket lobby and was asked to assist with a frustrated passenger at the United ticket counter (which is not unusual),” said Bozeman airport deputy director Scott Humphrey.
This comes after his infamous escape attempt to Cancun, Mexico last year, as millions of Texans were suffering due to the deadly power crisis in his home state.
