FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – An unruly passenger was removed from a JetBlue plane Thursday and arrested at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, an airline spokesperson confirmed in an email.
The spokesperson said the flight was headed to Las Vegas but the "disruptive customer" was removed before takeoff.
Cellphone video shows a woman, identified by authorities as Valerie Gonzalez, 32, saying she is being kicked off the plane for "calling someone old," however a Broward Sheriff's Office incident report states that she became disruptive after getting upset about having to sit next to a child.
"I'm not sitting next to a f---ing 3-year-old. I've been drinking all day," Gonzalez said, according to the report.
Deputies said Gonzalez then got up and went to a seat that was unassigned to her without permission from the flight crew.
"I'm not getting off this plane," she is heard telling someone on her cellphone.
She is then heard yelling at passengers who are filming her.
We had a crazy chick get thrown off our plane here in Fort Lauderdale. @JetBlue pic.twitter.com/56bdUGpHE3
— Orlando Alzugaray Jr (@BigOShow) February 15, 2019
"Oh, you want to f---ing tape this, make this viral, b------?" Gonzalez says before appearing to spit on the seat in front of her.
Gonzalez is later seen asking a flight attendant what she did wrong.
"What the f--- did I do? I called someone old because they were," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez eventually grabs her bags as the flight attendant requests that the Broward Sheriff's Office be called.
She is then seen in the video blowing kisses to passengers who are filming her and telling everyone she will see them in Vegas in an hour.
According to the incident report, Gonzalez wanted to reenter the plane after leaving, and then hit a JetBlue agent on the head who tried to stop her.
A 32-year-old passenger told deputies Gonzalez also struck her on the arm when she refused to switch seats with her, but the passenger said she did not want to press charges against Gonzalez.
Authorities said Gonzalez spit at JetBlue employees and responding deputies as she was being taken into custody, but she stopped spitting once deputies requested a spit mask. The mask was not used, but Gonzalez was handcuffed and had leg restraints applied as she was seated in a wheelchair and taken to a BSO vehicle, authorities said.
As of Friday afternoon, Gonzalez remained at the North Broward Bureau jail on a battery charge.