The Spirit Airlines ticket counter turned chaotic at Orlando International Airport last Tuesday evening, and the wild scene was all caught on camera.
According to an arrest affidavit from the Orlando Police Department, an Ohio man involved in a scuffle with an officer ended up arrested.
According to the police report, officers went to the ticket counter around 9:30 p.m. to investigate a disturbance, with people “becoming aggressive with the Spirit staff and threatening them.”
In widely shared cellphone footage after officers arrived, a group of passengers and Spirit employees gather around, yelling and screaming.
Then a man in a light shirt and slacks takes down a uniformed officer, straddling him on the ground as a screaming woman in pink hovers over both of them.
READ MORE: Drunk man shocked at Orlando airport
“Stop! Stop!” she yells as she throws her body onto the men who are intertwined on the ground. “Nooooo! Nooooo!”
“Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God,” says a different woman off camera, about 20 feet away. “Let’s not...”
Two uniformed officers manage to pull the passenger off of the cop and pin him down as bystanders zoom in with their cameras and more police race to the scene.
READ MORE: Passenger melts down over crying baby
The report says that the man taking down the officer in the video is Edward Hariston, 41. Investigators say he was arguing with a ticket agent over delays and then escalated matters by reaching over the counter and hitting the worker’s computer keyboard.
When an officer arrived to defuse the situation and remove one of Hariston’s hands from the keyboard, things got more out of control and turned physical, according to the police report.
“We both fell onto the ground and Hariston put one of his arms around my neck in a choke hold and began to squeeze, restricting my airway, making it unable for me to breathe,” the officer wrote. “I began to get dizzy and immediately spotty, as my airflow was restricted, and I was beginning to lose consciousness.”
Hariston was arrested and taken to the hospital for medical evaluation, then transported to the Orange County Jail, held on $50,450 bond.
He is facing one count of attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence, battery on a law enforcement officer and disorderly conduct.
Spirit did not immediately respond to the Miami Herald’s request for comment, but a witness to the melee, passenger Marianne Capoverdi, told WESH- Channel 2 in Orlando that before the incident “tensions were very high because we were not feeling like we were getting much information.”
“I was scared,” added passenger Brenda Garrison.”It was really scary.”
©2023 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
