Footage purporting to show a woman being removed from a JetBlue flight in handcuffs after she refused to wear a mask has circulated online.
The video, showing the woman’s alleged ejection from the plane, was shared to TikTok by Brooklyn DeGumbia, a freelance reporter who previously worked for FOX23 and witnessed the incident firsthand.
Posted under the username brooklyndegumbia the video has been viewed more than 1.2 million times at the time of writing.
In the clip, a woman who appears to be in handcuffs is seen being taken through an unnamed airport in a wheelchair by several Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers.
According to DeGumbia’s accompanying caption, the woman “was handcuffed and wheeled off a JetBlue flight after refusing to wear a mask.”
DeGumbia alleges in the caption that the flight was delayed by three hours as a result of the disruption.
The video then cuts to footage of the woman, whose face is covered, arguing with a member of staff.
“I haven’t done anything,” the woman can be heard saying.
“Well, we can talk about this off the aircraft,” the member of staff replies.
“No, we won’t,” the woman replies.
“Otherwise we are going to have to take everyone off,” the staff member says.
“Then take everyone off,” the woman fires back.
“Okay you want to make it hard, we’re going to make it hard,” the worker says.
“But I haven’t done anything wrong,” the woman says, as the camera pans to several other members of staff, including a member of the TSA.
“Guys, my daughter is going to college,” she is heard to say.
The video can be viewed in full here.
According to DeGumbia everyone onboard the flight was subsequently deplaned while the woman was removed.
The actions of the flight crew were praised by those commenting on the TikTok clip.
Fillflashdetailer wrote: “This is exactly what should happen, every time without delay – on every airline.” Bittinho commented: “Unbelievable these people get to waste everyone’s time like this.”
Gregmiller926, meanwhile, reflected on the fact that we are now “almost two years into this pandemic” and yet some people are “not understanding.”
User2303687422850 also noted that “these people agreed to wear a mask when they bought the ticket and when they checked in.”
Indeed, this information is detailed under the section titled “The mask is not an ask” in JetBlue’s Covid info hub.
There it clearly states that “Federal law requires masks to be worn by all travelers 2 years and older at all times throughout the flight including during boarding and deplaning, and in the airport.”
It also warns that “any individual who fails to comply with this law may be subject to denied boarding, removal from the aircraft and/or penalties under federal law.”
In a follow-up video, DeGumbia said that the woman had a mask on but “kept pulling it up and down.”
“So when the flight attendant would walk over and tell her to put it back up, she’d put it back up they would walk away and after a couple of minutes she would put it back down.”
“I am in no way shape or form condoning this behavior at all,” she said at one point in the video, later urging viewers to “not be like this woman, be safe.”
Newsweek has reached out to JetBlue and DeGumbia for comment.
Incidents of this kind are not uncommon in the U.S., where the issue of face masks remains a hot-button topic to some.
Back in July an American Airlines flight from New York to Miami was delayed for several hours due to a disruptive passenger who refused to wear a mask.
Later that same month, five men were arrested at a Florida airport following a fracas sparked off by their refusal to wear face coverings.
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