The incident occurred on a Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami.
Photo: DANIEL SLIM / AFP / Getty Images
An Frontier Airlines passenger went viral after he was duct-taped to his seat for allegedly groping two flight attendants and assaulting anotherfor which he was sentenced to 60 days in prison.
Maxwell Berry pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of assault. within the maritime and territorial jurisdiction for their conduct aboard the flight from Philly to Miami in Augustreported ABC News.
The 23-year-old, who faced a year and a half behind bars and a $15,000 fine, was also sentenced to a year of supervised release. He must appear before August 1.
Cellphone footage showed the passenger taped to the back of a seat. before cops arrested him on three counts of assault.
The video shows the Norfolk, Ohio man getting into a fight with a flight attendant and yelling profanities while sitting in a window seat.
An arrest report says Berry ordered two drinks and then ordered a third before brushing his glass against the back of a flight attendant, who told him, “Don’t touch me.”
Berry proceeded to spill his new drink on his shirt, prompting him to go to the bathroom and come out “shirtless,” according to the report. He then walked around the cabin and groped the chests of two flight attendants.
“He came from behind and put his arm around both of them and touched their breasts again,” the arrest report says.
Berry then punched a flight attendant who was asked to watch him after the chaos during the flight.
Two of his victims attended sentencing Tuesday: Jordan Galarza, whom Berry punched, and Tymerah Burgess, whom he groped, WPLG reported.
“My number one role on any plane is to protect the passengers, including Maxwell Berry, who we got safely to Miami that day,” Galarza said, adding that the tape used to restrain the passenger may have seemed “a bit barbaric, but it worked perfectly and no one got hurt by how we did what we did.”
Galarza and Burgess told WPLG that they feel the 60-day sentence is not enough.
“He became an enemy of everyone on that flight,” Galarza said. “The people on that plane saw justice done, more than we saw today. I think it’s a disgusting miscarriage of justice, in my opinion.”
Berry’s parents told the court that he has always been a star student, athlete and leader, but acknowledged that is not an excuse for his actions.
His attorney, Jason Kreiss, also read letters that were sent to the court on his client’s behalf.
“Mr. Berry hopes to put this incident behind him,” Kreiss later told WPLG. “We filed a significant mitigation in court, but we respect the court’s judgment in this case.”
Berry also expressed remorse, saying he was ashamed of his actions. Judge Robert Scola Jr. told him that “there is no delete button” and that people cannot think they can get on a plane and act this way, WPLG reported.
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