Former Prosecutor Says Atlanta Airport Traveler’s Conduct “Cannot Be Tolerated”
Spirit Airlines customer arrested at Atlanta airport
Police say the traveler used a racial slur during a dispute with a Spirit Airlines employee. The man then allegedly assaulted a second airline employee before being taken into police custody.
ATLANTA – A man transiting through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has been arrested after police said they attacked two airport workers.
Michael Norris, 30, of Philadelphia, was jailed in Clayton County Jail on December 2 for assault.
Staff shortages due to the increasing number of omicron variant cases and bad weather have resulted in continued delays and cancellations of thousands of flights over the past two weeks. This created a tense situation with many travelers having their anger.
THE AUTHORITIES ARE WORKING TO SLOW THE FLOW OF ARMS AT THE SECURITY CHECKPOINTS OF ATLANTA AIRPORT
Norris snapped his fingers asking a Spirit Airlines boarding agent to hurry up and book his flight to the northeast a day after New Years Eve, police said.
“This kind of behavior, regardless of the context, cannot be tolerated,” said former Clayton County District Attorney Keith Martin.
The behavior Martin talks about quickly escalated towards the Spirit employee. The canceled passenger hurled a racial insult and repeated it in the queue, police said.
“You can’t expect your best interests to be better than everyone’s,” Martin said.
OVER 100 CANCELED FLIGHTS AT ATLANTA AIRPORT
Flight cancellations affect Atlanta airport
Travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport face flight delays and more than 100 cancellations as airlines struggle to staff their planes amid COVID-19 wave .
At a time when passenger traffic has slowed down for various reasons.
“This is by far the worst toxic mix you could have imagined. No.1, you’re in a pandemic, No.2, this pandemic is hitting airport staff, okay, and that makes all the other more anxious travelers. And then with reduced flights, and of all things, vacations, you have the worst mix of what I think I’ve ever seen, “said Martin.
Norris reluctantly headed to another location to change reservations, but along the way he confronted a second worker – a wheelchair escort – and allegedly assaulted him, this time physically, hitting the man in the face police said.
“And spitting on him and making the comments he made to both of them is way outside of the stress that a person would normally feel at the airport,” Martin said.
Norris has since been released from Clayton County Jail.
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