Bodycam video shows the moments two sisters were arrested after allegedly getting into a drunken row with a flight attendant after being kicked off a Frontier Airlines flight.
Kiera Lyons, 22, and her sister Maura Flores, 31, were taken into custody at the Orlando International Airport on May 15 after being booted off a New Jersey-bound flight. Bodycam footage showing their encounter with police officers after the alleged assault wasn’t released until Oct. 8.
The video shows a police officer getting each side of the story from the pair of sisters and the flight attendant who was reportedly attacked.
A visibly agitated Lyons said she suffers from “anxiety and depression,” and looked overwhelmed after being approached by police.
Flores steps in to explain that she and her sister were approached by a cabin crew member who asked if they were intoxicated. Flores said she informed the Frontier employee that her sister had had a few drinks before the flight. Then she alleged a male cabin crew member shoved her sister to the ground.
The footage cuts to the moments the officer interviews a female flight attendant, who is seated on the floor of the jet bridge with what appears to be a towel on her knee.
She is heard telling authorities that she called a supervisor after learning one of the sisters was intoxicated, but that they started “screaming” and causing a disturbance on the plane after refusing to leave the aircraft.
Crew members contacted police, but before officers arrived the sisters left the plane. The flight attendant said she followed them out when one of the sisters turned around and said, “F*** you, you fat b****.”
When the flight attendant responded, “Thank you,” she said one sister pushed her, then the other followed suit and shoved her again, causing her to trip and fall.
“It was the short, skinny one first that pushed me, and then the bigger, her sister, pushed me right after,” the flight attendant said.
Lyons told police that one of the flight attendants touched her chest, which escalated the situation. Flores alleges that the injured cabin crew member “faked” her fall and her injury.
As Lyons is being handcuffed, Flores launches into a tearful outburst, telling police, “You are not handcuffing my sister. I’m calling a lawyer right now.”
While crying, she runs after her sister, who’s being escorted away from the scene by police, and yells, “I’m not leaving her! Are you kidding me?!”
Lyons is also heard breaking out in tears.
When both sisters are placed in the back of a police cruiser, Flores is heard yelling, “I’m not a criminal!” and then begins to complain that her handcuffs are cutting into her wrists and demands that officers remove them.
Per People, a filing in the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida stated that both sisters were charged with first-degree battery and second-degree disorderly intoxication.
Both sisters were recommended to undergo a pre-trial intervention (PTI) program on Sept. 17. Their case has been officially closed.
According to the website for the Florida State Attorney’s office, PTI programs are “designed to offer individuals facing charges for non-violent crimes an opportunity to avoid the long-term consequences of criminal conviction.”
Offenders referred to these programs must undergo various types of counseling, community service, education courses, or drug/alcohol treatment. Charges are dropped if individuals complete the program successfully.
