Two sunburned and drunk New Jersey sisters allegedly attacked a Frontier Airlines gate agent after the duo was kicked off their flight at a Florida airport, according to body camera footage released Wednesday.
Kiera Lyons, 22, and Maura Flores, 31, were arrested when they were accused of being intoxicated and disrupting their Garden State-bound flight at Orlando International Airport on May 15.
Body camera footage of the incident shows an Orlando police officer approaching the airline employee, who was sitting on the jetway floor after the alleged assault.
“First it was the short, skinny one who pushed me, and then the taller one – her sister – pushed me right after,” the Frontier Airlines employee told the officer.
The victim said she was asked to call her supervisor and police after the sisters refused to exit the plane and were “yelling” and causing a scene on board.
However, after some time, both men agreed and were escorted to the gangway.
As the sisters left, the employee claimed Lyons launched a verbal attack on the flight crew and punched her in the face, saying, “Fuck you, you big bitch.”
“I said, ‘Thank you,’” the victim recalled. “When she was facing me, she pushed me and then turned around, then the sister came and shoved me again,” adding that this caused her to trip over something on the floor.
A flight attendant who was nearby confirmed his claim and told the officer that the two girls had pushed the victim.
Outside the bridge, the chaotic footage also showed the sisters from Manahawkin, New Jersey, explaining their side of the story to other officers at the terminal.
Lyons — who claimed she suffered from “anxiety and depression” and was hyperventilating throughout the exchange — told police she felt sick in the bathroom when a flight attendant asked her to leave the plane.
Flores said the flight attendant asked her sister if she was “intoxicated,” to which she responded, “Yeah, I had a few drinks.”
Lyons later claimed the exchange escalated when an employee allegedly touched his chest, upsetting both of them. She even went so far as to demonstrate by pushing the police officer’s chest.
“I’ve had a few drinks, but I’m literally supposed to be walking to graduation (tomorrow),” Lyons is heard telling officers while sobbing. “I’m a Division III athlete. This just sucks.”
Lyons is a former field hockey player at Stockton University in Galloway Township who currently works as a coach at a gym in New Jersey. Flores is a mother of two in Manahawkin, according to the Daily Mail.
Moments later, Lyons is seen handcuffed, further upsetting her older sister.
“You’re not handcuffing my sister,” Flores shouted as Lyons was arrested. “I’m calling my lawyer right now.”
Flores then tried to run away, but was caught by the officer and was also handcuffed.
“Are you kidding me?” Flores cried. “Do you believe this girl?”
The footage then showed the two sisters continuing to argue with officers inside a police car.
“Can you at least take the handcuffs off while I’m in the car?” “” Maura asked. “I’m not a criminal.”
A female police officer is then heard telling the two men to save their “energy for arguing in court” as the video draws to a close.
Lyons and Flores were both charged with first-degree battery and second-degree disorderly conduct for allegedly assaulting a gate agent, according to a filing with Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit obtained by People.
The airline employee suffered “minor injuries” after being pushed.
Both sisters had their cases closed and were referred to a pretrial intervention (PTI) program on September 17, the outlet reported.
A PTI program is “designed to divert juveniles and non-violent crime defendants from prosecution. These programs typically involve elements intended to educate and rehabilitate individuals,” according to the Florida law firm Bogin, Munns & Munns.
“Upon successful completion of the program, criminal charges against the defendant are dropped.”
with post wires
