Southwest employee hospitalized after alleged assault by passenger
Suspect has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault
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An employee for Southwest Airlines was hospitalized Saturday after she was allegedly assaulted by a passenger boarding a flight to New York City from Dallas Love Field.
The incident, which took place around 12:40 p.m., involved an allegedly unruly female passenger who police identified as Arielle Jean Jackson, 32.
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A Southwest Airlines airplane taxies from a gate at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Baltimore, Oct. 11, 2021. (Getty Images)
Jackson "boarded the plane and went straight to the back" where she had a "verbal altercation with [an operations agent] who instructed the suspect to leave the plane," police said in a statement to Fox News.
The original police statement described the employee as a flight attendant; however, Southwest Airlines later clarified the victim was an operations agent.
The suspect then "went to the front of the plane where she had another verbal altercation with another [operations agent] " and began "hitting her with a closed fist to the head," police added Saturday night.
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Jackson has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault. The employee, according to police, was transported to a hospital and was in "stable condition."
"We have a Station Manager with her at the hospital with the full support of her Southwest Family sending our thoughts, prayers, and love," the airline said in a statement to Fox News. "Southwest Airlines maintains a zero-tolerance policy regarding any type of harassment or assault and fully support our Employee as we cooperate with local authorities regarding this unacceptable incident."