Coronavirus: Fight breaks out in flight over face mask, police use taser to restrain woman

Brawl breaks out on Spirit Airlines in Puerto Rico after passenger refuses to wear a face mask

A video of a brawl, onboard an American airline in Puerto Rico, has gone viral on social media. The fight allegedly broke out after an argument over the wearing of face masks. According the comments on the Twitter post, the police had to use a taser to restrain the passenger. The clip was shot by a traveller on the same flight.

The incident occurred on Sunday on a Spirit Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey to San Juan in Puerto Rico. Shortly after the plane landed, an argument broke out between passengers. The passenger in question was travelling with three women and they had been refusing to put on their face masks and were moving about the plane while the seat belt sign was on.

The flight attendants politely asked them to wear their masks. Not willing to follow instructions, after the plane landed, one of the women got into a brawl and the attendants were forced to call the police after failing to quell the disturbance.

In the video clip, one of the women can be seen physically attacking a male traveller. She can be seen climbing over a row of seats and physically confronting thea man. She also punched the attendant who was trying to intervene and stop the fight.

Other male passengers too joined the melee and started shouting racist and homophobic slurs at the women. Finally, the police stepped in and they were forced to subdue the woman by using a taser.

Puerto Rican police said that the woman, named Nyasy Veronique Payne, was arrested and put behind bars after she failed to pay the bail amount.

Arguments over face masks has become common among passengers in many parts of the world.

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