Viral video shows a Delta passenger hitting and spitting on a man and telling him to wear a mask — all while she was also unmasked
- A viral video shows an unmasked woman hitting and spitting on an unmasked man on a flight last week.
- The video showed them getting into an argument before she hit the man.
A heated confrontation on a Delta flight from Tampa, Florida, to Atlanta on Thursday is the latest in a series of incidents involving unruly airline passengers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A two-minute video posted on Twitter shows a woman, identified as Patricia Cornwall, slapping a man during the flight. The video has been viewed more than 8 million times.
Officers with the Atlanta Police Department arrested Cornwall, who was taken into custody by the FBI, the department said in a statement.
"Situations like these are rare for the vast majority of our customers and Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior at our airports and aboard our aircraft," Delta said in an emailed statement to Insider.
An affidavit obtained by the news platform Heavy said a flight attendant asked Cornwall to take a seat after using the restroom during beverage service.
The affidavit said Cornwall responded, "What am I Rosa Parks?"
It said a passenger, identified only as R.S.M., told Cornwall that she "isn't Black" and that "this isn't Alabama and this isn't a bus."
The video showed the two arguing and calling each other names before she appeared to slap, spit on, and scratch the man.
Cornwall, who was wearing her mask under her chin, could be heard telling the man, "Put your fucking mask on," and "Don't you dare talk to me like that ... Stand your ass up."
"I'll talk to you any fucking way I want to," he responded. He could be heard repeatedly calling her "Karen" and a "bitch."
"Soon as we get to Atlanta, you're going to jail, bitch," he could be heard saying after the woman struck him.