A woman forcibly removed from a Southwest Airlines flight earlier this week now faces a slew of charges following the incident.
CBS News reports that the 46-year-old Maryland woman was charged Wednesday with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstructing, and hindering a police officer.
The charges stem from an incident on Tuesday evening in which the woman was forcibly removed from the Los Angeles-bound flight after alerting crew members that she had a life-threatening pet allergy.
According to reports, the woman had complained about two animals on the plane, asking crew members to remove them because of her allergy.
When the crew told her they couldn’t remove the animals, the woman asked for an injection to alleviate her symptoms. However, the airline couldn’t provide her with an injection if she didn’t have a proper medical certificate, a requirement under the airline’s policies.
As a result, she was asked to exit the plane. A rep for Southwest said that the crew made repeated attempts to explain the situation to the customer but she refused to leave the aircraft and law enforcement was brought in.
A video taken by another passenger showed the woman being removed from the plane by two officers, she can be heard multiple times asking the officers what they are doing, and noting that they had ripped her pants.
Southwest apologized for the situation, noting it was “disheartened by the way this situation unfolded.”
by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist