American Airlines flight attendant 'whacks a mother in the head with a metal stroller while she holds her twin babies and reduces her to tears' - then is filmed challenging a passenger to a FIGHT and yelling 'hit me!'
- American Airlines staff member was seen challenging passenger to a fight
- Argument was precipitated by alleged assault of a woman by the AA employee
- The employee hit the woman with a metal stroller as he dragged it off her
- He also almost struck the baby with the stroller too, witnesses claimed
- A male passenger then objected, leading to the attendant inviting him to a fight
- The incident occurred on AA Flight 591 from San Francisco to Dallas-Fort Worth
- AA released a statement saying that the incident 'does not reflect our values'
- The flight attendant has been suspended by the airline pending an investigation
An American Airlines flight attendant has been removed from duty after a shocking video emerged showing him challenging a passenger to a fight after allegedly hitting a woman in the head with a metal stroller during boarding.
The upsetting footage, filmed before Flight 591 departed from San Francisco on Friday afternoon, shows the airline staff member goading a passenger and saying, 'hit me'.
The clip was uploaded by passenger Surain Adyanthaya, who explained he started filming after the flight attendant 'violently took a stroller from a lady with her baby on my flight, hitting her and just missing the baby'.
Adyanthaya went on to explain: 'They just involuntarily escorted the mother and her kids off the flight and let the flight attendant back on, who tried to fight other passengers. The mom asked for an apology and the AA official declined.'
The video shows a woman with a child in her arms after allegedly being hit with a stroller on the flight
Others on board were clearly disturbed by the incident. One male passenger (left) got up and made his feelings known
In the video, a distraught woman, who was flying from Argentina according to Q13 Fox, is seen standing at the front of the plane holding a child.
Olivia Morgan, who was standing in the door to the cabin with her eight-year-old daughter when the incident occurred, said the woman had been looking for a space to put the collapsible stroller.
A female flight attendant had given her permission to look for a storage space as it folds up small, but said she would have to check it in if there was no room.
The American Airlines website says small, collapsible strollers can be checked at the gate. There is no specific rule about not putting them in overhead bins.
'She was looking for space when the male attendant tried to take it away from her... and she said she told him the other attendant had told her it was okay to look,' Morgan said.
But that wasn't good enough for the man, she said.
'The flight attendant wrestled the stroller away from the woman, who was sobbing, holding one baby with the second baby in a car seat on the ground next to her,' Morgan said.
The woman can be seen sobbing and asks staff members to get her stroller back. Witnesses said the attendant struck her with the metal stroller as he was dragging it out of her hands.
At this point, other passengers are heard expressing their disgust at the situation.
One says he's 'not going to sit here and watch this...' and then gets up and walks to the front of the plane to confront flight attendants.
The man asks for the name of the employee who is alleged to have hit the crying woman.
The situation escalates further when a man in an American Airlines uniform boards the plane
The American Airlines employee challenges a passenger to a fight after the woman was allegedly hit with her stroller
The male passenger who intervened confronts the uniformed employee. 'You do that to me and I'll knock you flat,' the man says. That's when the employee retorts: 'Try it. Hit me'
Another passenger, a woman, also confronts an American Airlines employee about the situation.
The situation escalates further when a man in an American Airlines uniform boards the plane.
The male passenger who got up out of his seat to intervene confronts the uniformed employee.
'You do that to me and I'll knock you flat,' the man says.
The staff member responds by pointing his finger at the man tells him: 'You stay out of this.'
The male passenger then steps closer to the employee, who challenges him to a fight.
'Try it,' the employee tells the customer. 'Hit me. You don't know what the story is.'
'You almost hurt a baby!' the man replies.
Adyanthaya posted a photo on his Facebook page showing the woman with two young children in her arms
Tom Watson, a first-class passenger, said that he saw the incident, and says that the female passenger responded strongly to the flight attendant's demand to take the stroller.
'She refused to let him take it and she was almost to the point of shouting,' he said.
But he said the flight attendant was 'aggressive' as he tried to pull the stroller away from her, and that his demands for security escalated the situation.
He said the stroller struck the woman in the head, and almost hit the kids.
'The woman knows not to bring the stroller on a plane, she refused to let it go - she was shouting, so she is also at fault in my opinion,' he said.
'But don't get me wrong, the flight attendant should be way more professional than he was.'
Adyanthaya posted another photo on his Facebook page showing the woman with two young children - believed to be twins - in her arms.
It appears she is being escorted off of the plane.
Adyanthaya claimed the woman was removed and the employee who supposedly was violent toward her was permitted back on the plane.
This is the latest PR nightmare for the US aviation industry.
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United Airlines was slammed after a passenger was dragged off an April 9 flight in Chicago.
The flight was already full when four airline crew members showed up after passengers had boarded and requested seats so they could commute to their next flight out of Louisville, Kentucky.
That's when aviation officers forcibly removed Dr. David Dao of Louisville, Kentucky, from the plane.
Dao, a 69-year-old doctor who had immigrated to the United States from Vietnam, repeatedly accused airline officials of discriminating against him for being Chinese before he was hauled off the plane, according to a fellow passenger.
Dao's attorney said his client had suffered a significant concussion, broken his nose and lost two front teeth in the altercation with airport security, and said Dao would likely sue the airline.
Earlier this month, United Airlines was slammed after a passenger, Dr. David Dao (above), was dragged off an April 9 flight in Chicago to make room for crew members
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