The incident unfolded Sunday as an American Airlines plane bound for Los Angeles awaited takeoff at Miami International Airport, local media reported. Video taken by passengers shows the woman, identified by police as Tiffany McLemore, yelling at her husband as they're sitting in their seats.
A police report said McLemore became "enraged" because her husband was "ignoring" her, the Miami Herald reported. On video, she can be heard accusing her husband of looking at other women.
“Never come to my house again, (expletive),” McLemore can be heard shouting. “I’ll call the police on you!”
"You're out of control," McLemore's husband can be heard telling her.
Flight attendants can be seen trying to defuse the situation. They try to move the man to a different seat. As he stands up and moves to the aisle, McLemore can be seen following him and hits him in the back with a laptop. Surrounding passengers can be heard screaming.
The laptop bounced off the man and hit a flight attendant, The Herald reported.
A flight attendant can be heard in the video telling McLemore she'll be arrested for assault.
"Fine, whatever," McLemore can be heard replying.
The couple was escorted off the plane.
Kailey Goerlitz, a passenger on the flight, told WPLG-TV she was seated several rows in front of the couple. When McLemore swung the laptop at her husband, Goerlitz said she was hit in the face.
"At first, I thought it was entertaining, but when it escalated and I got hurt and the airline stewardess got hurt, then it wasn't so funny anymore," she said.
By the time police responded, they couldn't locate McLemore, The Herald reported. She wasn't arrested.
Her husband told police the couple were returning home to Los Angeles after a trip to Ecuador. He did not want to press charges. No flight attendant or passenger wanted to give a statement to police, police said.
“If there’s no statement, we are not able to move forward with the case,” a Miami-Dade Police Department spokesman told the Herald.
American Airlines officials released a statement on the incident to ABC News.
"We thank the American crew who worked quickly to defuse the situation," the statement said. "Their actions resulted in a safe environment for all of our passengers."
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