SAN DIEGO (AP) – A California woman who punched a Southwest Airlines pilot in the face and broke a tooth while on a flight has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.
Viviana Quinones was also sentenced by a San Diego federal judge on Tuesday to pay nearly $ 26,000 in restitution and $ 7,500 in fines for the May 23, 2021 assault between southwest Sacramento and San Diego.
A 29-year-old quinonez from Sacramento, a woman has been banned from flying for three years while she is being supervised and must attend anger management or counseling courses.
Last year, Quinones pleaded guilty to interfering with flight crew and bystanders, admitting to punching the flight attendant in the face and head with a closed fist and touching his hair. Neither he nor his attorney were contacted for comment Tuesday.
On the final landing of the flight, the attendant asked Quinones to fasten his seat belt, place a tray on the table and adequately protect his face mask.
Instead, Quinones began recording the maid on her cell phone, pushed, then got up and punched the woman in the face and held her by the hair until other passengers intervened, they said. authority.
The attack was recorded on another passenger’s cell phone.
The plea agreement stated that the pilot had three gnashing teeth, two of which required crowns, as well as bruises and wounds on his left eye that required stitches.
“Attacks on flight crews doing vital work to ensure passenger safety are intolerable,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said in a statement following the decision.
Stacey Moe, the FBI’s special agent, said the phrase “should send a very strong message to air travelers: The FBI will vigorously prosecute anyone who attacks or interferes with flight crews.”
The incident was part of the aggravation of the disobedient behavior of plane passengers amid a corovirus pandemic and forced the Aircraft Union president to request more federal air marshals on the planes.
Airlines reported more than 5,000 unmanned passenger accidents to the Federal Aviation Administration in 2021.
Most were passengers who refused to comply with a federal requirement that passengers wear face masks while on the plane, but nearly 300 involved drunk passengers, the FAA said.
Source: Huffpost
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