A woman is facing felony assault charges after attacking a mother onboard a Spirit Airlines flight after she failed to stop her two children from kicking the woman’s seat.
Passenger Attacks Mother For Failing To Stop Children From Kicking Seat On Spirit Airlines
Daydrena Jaslin Walker-Williams had had enough. The 29-year-old had endured constant kicking from a three-year-old and seven-year-old on her flight from Las Vegas to Portland, Spirit 765, on Sunday.
She had asked Nataly Hernandez to constrain her children, and Hernandez refused.
When the plane landed, passengers stood up to gather their belongings from the overhead bins. Walker-Williams pulled her bag down, then attacked Hernandez, striking her several times. Hernandez was left with a bleeding lip and lumps on her head.
Numerous passengers onboard witnessed the incident and and Walker-Williams herself admitted to police she punched her “2 to 3 times in the face with her fist.” She also claimed that Hernandez hit her shoulder first, something no one else onboard witnessed.
Why didn’t Walker-Williams tell a flight attendant what was going on? When asked, she said, “My first reaction was to fight,” and also added, “You do what you got to do.”
Walker-Williams now faces felony assault in the fourth degree and harassment charges.
I Don’t Blame Her For Being Angry…
There is simply no justification for violence in this context and Walker-Williams should be held accountable for her actions. Period.
Nevertheless, I can certainly understand her anger.
Can you imagine if two brats were kicking your seat and their deadbeat mother did nothing to stop it?
However, Walker-Williams should have alerted flight attendants immediately. At the very least, she could have “accidentally” spilled her beverage on the children…
In all seriousness, I don’t blame Walker-Willams for being angry. But her response was simply disproportionate to the offense.
CONCLSUION
This was on a quick flight from Las Vegas to Portland. Can you imagine if it had been a transcontinental flight? Walker-Williams should be held accountable for her unjustified assault. But I do understand her anger.
How do you handle it when a child kicks your seat?
image: Spirit Airlines
Nice. I really would like to see more of this. Life is getting boring.
I would pay $10 a month to see everyday Americans beat each other up over trivial things.
I mean streaming service.
Um, all you had to do was turn on the news yesterday…a lady even got shot. Heck, the confederate flag made it further than Robert E Lee ever made it…
Spirit Airlines: keeping it classy!
And here we had two lowlifes facing off: an irresponsible mother who showed a lack of respect for others versus a common thug who expresses herself through violence. Society is to blame for all of it.
I dunno Matthew, if someone “accidentally” spilled a drink on me from the row ahead of me when there were already issues, that kind of hyper escalation might or might not result in my accidentally spilling some scalding coffee on their head. What I don’t understand is why she waited until the flight was over to hit the woman.
I have had kids repeatedly kicking the seat. What should one do?
If the flight is a red eye and a long flight, I would try to change seats. If crowded, I would peak into business class and consider asking. Or ask the kid to switch seats with me.
Other solutions?
On a short flight it’s likely I wouldn’t bother unless it was really bad ; on long haul it’s a different matter: I don’t hesitate to act quickly, first with a quick surprised stare at the offender, followed by an annoyed look. If that fails, I will speak with the parents but never hostile or belligerent. In my experience they are simply unaware of the impact of the actions of the kids. But if they failed or declined to stop it ( …has never happened …) , I would hesitate to escalate to flight crew.
Personally I don’t find children any more annoying than dear animals acting in service or support roles; both should be welcomed.
Restrain, not constrain.
My choice of beverage for the accident would be hot coffee, not tea. If the mother sue me, I would refer to McD v. Stella that it was the fault/negligence of the airline serving hot beverage.
What I think about more than the incident is basically the multiplying factor of the disgraceful, disrespectful and ignorant behavior being passed from generation to generation. The mother in question begat 2 children w/o taught manners and self restraint, they will begat more of the same not being taught self control….needless to say who knows if Ms. Walker-Williams has or will have children and her natural or taught instinct to fight rather to think will be instilled to her next generation. Polite society has disappeared on all levels. How did it happen so fast? My mother always said making babies was too easy and “enjoyable”. Probably necessary back in the beginning, but something besides the “pill” should have deterred the population from exploding. So much for heeding Thomas Malthus and Paul Erlich’s theories.