A man accused of punching a pregnant woman and her dog onboard a Frontier Airlines flight was attacked himself…and may actually be the victim.
A few days ago I wrote about a story out of Orlando in which a deaf couple claimed an angry seatmate viciously attacked their service animal. After being confronted, the man attacked the dog’s owner…who was 20 weeks pregnant. At least according to the police report.
> Read More: Deaf, Pregnant Frontier Airlines Passenger Punched in Stomach by Angry Seatmate
Turns out the truth may be more complicated. Video footage has emerged showing the male deaf passenger attacking the man both onboard the aircraft and off. There’s no question about those pair of attacks.
Meanwhile, the passenger accused of punching the dog and pregnant woman vehemently denies it. He claims when the service animal (a Great Dane) woke up prior to landing, it invaded his personal space. He simply pushed it away because his wife was allergic. This enraged the deaf dog owners.
Watch the video below:
I don’t know who is telling the truth. But I’ll be honest: if a huge dog invaded my personal space and my wife was allergic to it, I would push it away also.
Here’s the additional wildcard: this was clearly a service animal, despite its enormous size. I claim this with a high degree of confidence because the dog did not react violently when pushed (or punched) away. Service animals are trained to take abuse from others and not react instinctively in self-defense.
CONCLUSION
Truth is a funny thing…slowly but surely it has a way of coming out. I now feel much more conflicted about this whole story. Just who is the victim here? We now see, via the video above, that at least one man should be held accountable. The question is whether both men should…
image: Joshua Manley / YouTube
Great Danes are enormous dogs ; one should have a seat ( or equivalent space). The problem in most of these cases is that the owner doesn’t want to pay for that, with the potential to adversely affect the rights of others.
While I ‘get’ the clear need for those with disabilities to travel with support animals, perhaps the space needs to be more clearly delineated ( and funded).
I have no sympathy for the nutters, charlatans and shysters who rort the system , claiming peacocks, rats, penguins, iguanas or spiders are their for their emotional well-being.
BTW, if someone punched my dogs I would strike back at them, maybe not a punch but at the very least a swing of my man-bag.
I saw a post on one of the Facebook groups I am in where a Great Dane “emotional service animal” was sitting on the seat in first class. It appeared to be well behaved and the go had a full seat so it wouldn’t infringe on others space, it was just a two-seat row in first so there was no one else that would have been affected. I have less of an issue there, but like any other traveler (adult, child, animal) behavior is the key.
*there for their*, where’s the edit button?
Great Danes are nice dogs but they are terrible service animals. Their enormous size is an issue. It costs tens of thousands of dollars to train service dogs so their short lifespans make them undesirable as service animals. There’s more to this story.
That was my first thought as well, too big and too short of a life span. There is a reason so many working dogs fall into several medium sized breeds with good long ivory.
service dog? what service? the owners with child may have a hearing impairment. How is the service animal aiding in that or mitigating their impairment? i understand a guide dog for visually impaired. but how does the service dog aid the hearing impaired? surely he (she, the dog) can hear, but can’t verbally communicate with his (her) master.
I feel conflicted; on one hand I always sympathize with disabled people given the difficulties they face in everyday lives, on the other, however, they often feel over-entitled. My guess is that Mr. Manley is the victim.
I doubt the great Dane was a service animal, even some untrained dogs won’t get aggressive if pushed.
The other side of this is understanding the deaf culture. It’s a completely different world and we must not be fast to draw conclusions without understanding that and what it means within the context of this incident first.
I agree w/those questioning a Great Dane being a ‘service’ animal-never heard of such a thing. My very strong suspicion is that this is a pet they didn’t want to crate & fly in cargo.
Would be helpful to have more words in CAPS LOCK 😉
Breaks my heart that there were 2 children present for the part of the scuffle that took place in the airport. I know rage is a hell of an emotion, but I wish they would have controlled themselves there
are the ADA lawyers lining up yet
Notice the monster “deaf” man acting like some sort of black rapper. That BS has got to be removed from everyone’s minds. I hate it when I see Asian pop musicians act that way—it’s a form of terrorism. Send the deaf man and his mutt back to Capistrano…..one way ticket on A-hole Air.
There’s points here that just don’t add up. For starters, a Great Dane is not exactly the ideal choice for a service animal, for reasons listed above. Then there’s the question of why a service animal was required to fly. From what I learned from a friend who learned sign language, deafness is largely curable now, so why intentionally choose to have a disability? That aside, when your giant dog intrudes on someone else, isn’t it your responsibility to control it, and all the more so in a confined space? Then strangers would not be required to interfere.
This must be one of them English-speaking dogs, whose service is to speak and listen on behalf of its deaf owners.