“Given the widespread news coverage of this incident, Southwest hopes that the ultimate sentence imposed in this matter will serve as a deterrent for others who may contemplate engaging in similar dangerous behaviour.” “This specific passenger created a situation onboard Flight 700 that jeopardised the entire flight, and created an unsafe environment,” the executive wrote. In a letter to the sentencing judge, a Southwest executive laid out why they believed that given the high-profile nature of the assault, which they characterised as “sickening”, it should be met with serious consequences. General deterrence was also an angle earmarked by Southwest Airlines. “He explained that the victims included not just the flight attendant victim and Southwest Airlines, but all passengers on the plane that day and flight attendants working in the industry,” said Jacklyn Stahl in an email to The Times. Part of the presiding judge’s impetus for handing down the 18-month sentence to the 29-year-old, an assistant for the US attorney told The New York Times, was a strong consideration for “general deterrence”. Ms Quinonez was also ordered to pay a $7,500 fine. She was also left with swelling on her face and bruising and a cut under her left eye. Passengers onboard the flight could be seen in the video trying to disarm the angry passenger, but she still managed to pull the hair of the employee and cause her serious injury.Ĭourt documents from the prosecution later revealed that the airline worker was taken to hospital after the flight and required two of her teeth to be replaced by crowns, while three of her teeth were chipped and needed to be repaired by surgery. In the video, Ms Quinonez can be seen getting up from her aisle seat and crossing over to throw several punches at the flight attendant, most of which land square in her face.
Ms Quinonez initially filmed the altercation with the flight attendant, who was unnamed in the court documents, and then a separate video surfaced which caught the subsequent attack on the Southwest Airlines employee.
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