An angry passenger who felt a service animal was taking up too much space on a Frontier Airlines flight took out his aggression on the dog…then on his owner, a deaf, pregnant woman. He attacked them both.
The Frontier flight from Colorado Springs to Orlando was nearing its destination when the dog woke up. That’s when Timothy Manley’s wife Petrini began complaining.
Petrini Manley complained of being allergic to dogs as the plane descended and was being taxied to the gate at the Orlando International Airport. The service animal, a Great Dane, woke up and Timothy Manley told police the dog “took up more space than [he] felt it deserved.”
Timothy Manley then punched the service dog, Zariel, causing it to yelp. The dog shook its head and hid under a seat, according to the police report.
This attack startled the dog’s owners, a young deaf couple, who began yelling at Manley. Manley responded by punching the 21-year-old woman in the stomach. She was (and is) 20 weeks pregnant. Her boyfriend then tackled Manley, restraining him until police arrived.
Because this incident occurred on the plane, Orlando police have passed this matter to the FBI. No injuries were reported.
CONCLUSION
We’ve had a lot of discussion on service dogs and emotional support animals lately. This case centered on a service dog rather than emotional support animal. Manley’s behavior is simply inexcusable…there are no buts about that. Even so, this story once again demonstrates how animals onboard bring out the worst behavior in many passengers.
image: Frontier
It takes a Manley man to punch a pregnant woman in the stomach.
1) I hope Manley goes to jail.
2) Is there any point at which an airline can refuse a service animal because its presence would be a hazard to other passengers in case of emergency? Unless the dog is expertly trained specifically to evacuate planes, I have to think a great dane would be a huge problem in the event of an emergency onboard.
Classy story Matthew
That’s a real service dog. Good doggie! The dog was punched and only yelped and hid.
If there are dog allergies and the plane is landing soon, the allergic passenger should be accommodated and be seated elsewhere.
Punching a pregnant woman in the stomach can amount to murder. Perhaps he should be executed.
A great dane? Really? The man is still an animal and has no place in any society but, a great dane?
Why not a small giraffe or a baby rhino then?
People are just other animals on the top of the food chain.
The passengers that owned the service dog should have paid for the entore row of seats to accomodate the dog. 3 seats to a row and the deaf man in one and another couple. The dog sat at their feet. A hreat dane is huge and was taking up the entire floor space. I would hve pushed the dog away too . Buy bulk head seats and the entire 3 seat row to accomodate your dog. Dont expect strangers to make accomodations for your animal.
I have had several service animals for my disabilities and have flown with them more than 50 times. Only one time did I have a bad experience…a woman seated next to me became psycho claiming my dog stank and she’s deathly allergic. Her alcohol and cigarette breath was nauseating. I did NOT respond to her as I know, there are people who have deranged minds and she was obviously one of them.
I was seated by the window, my husband next to me and aisle seat was her assigned seating.
I had my 7 yr old ShiTsue which BTW are hypoallergenic for most people AND she’d been professionally groomed hours earlier. The psycho woman kept cursing, yelling obscenities at me and my husband and then began demanding we get off the flight and I did NOT need a Service animal because I wasn’t blind. WHAT?
Her yelling, name-calling began escalating, everyone watching…flight attendants began coming our way.
The airline attendant told her to calm down and stand in the back of the plane while they found someone to switch seats with her. After a few mins a very nice man sat in the seat next to us and saying he loves dogs AND was more than grateful to switch seats because the couple seated next to him had twin very cranky and screaming toddlers who wouldn’t calm down, had earaches and the flight was from Georgia to Oregon…a 5 hour flight. We chuckled several times as we heard the toddlers continual screaming during the entire flight…we saw several people walking up and down the aisle discussing w attendants about how the screaming toddlers were getting on their nerves.
I had to smile to self wondering how comfortable that psycho woman was having to be seated next to 2 screaming toddlers for a long 5-hour flight while my little dog curled up and slept the entire flight.
On another long flight, there was a young girl who began having a panic attack when the plane began to get bumpy. She was nearly in full on panic mode when I asked her mom if my dog would help calm her down.
She thought was worth a try, so after switching seats so she could sit next to me, mydog…snuggled up on her lap and the girls panic stopped immediately and she was all smiles…What could have been a disaster, ended up being a good thing.