Two women from Durham, North Carolina were arrested at the Miami International Airport after starting a fight with an airline worker and getting into a brawl with police officers.
A news media site called Only in Dade posted cell phone footage of the two unruly female passengers being pinned down and arrested by police officers on Tuesday, January 24.
One of the passengers, who was wearing a bright pink wig, is seen in the video kicking her feet as she is pinned down and attempting to crawl away from the arresting officers on her stomach. She is screaming at the top of her lungs for the officer to get off of her.
The other woman is seen lying face down on the airport floor with an officer restraining her hands behind her back.
The events preceding the arrest occurred on Tuesday morning at around 9:30 am at the ticket counter for Frontier Airlines. The two women arrived at the counter hoping to board their plane, but an airline employee informed them they could not get on board the Miami to Atlanta flight because they arrived at the airport 45 minutes too late for boarding.
The women then got into a verbal argument with the worker, which quickly escalated to physical violence when one of the women, identified as Makyan Mercer, 20, allegedly took a plastic sign holder and hurled it at the staffer.
According to an arrest warrant, the sign holder hit the worker on her face and left her with a cut.
Law enforcement officers at the scene detained Mercer, and the second woman, Janaeah Negash, 21. She allegedly tried to interfere with her friend’s arrest by standing between the arresting officers and Mercer.
The arrest report said Negash was screaming at the officers to stop touching Mercer.
Police Officers took Negash into custody too, and charged her with disorderly conduct and using violence to resist arrest. Authorities charged Mercer with aggravated battery, using violence to resist arrest, and disorderly conduct.
The Frontier Airlines employee was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for her injury.
Frontier Airlines released a statement condemning the incident. They said the women became aggressive when the Frontier employee told them they couldn’t board because it was past the cut-off time for check-ins. They announced that they had banned the two women from flying with the airline in the future.