Spirit Airlines 'seat squatter' is escorted off plane by police - but was she in the RIGHT?
A Spirit Airlines passenger was dragged from a plane by a group of cops after losing her 'zen' and refusing to move from her originally assigned seat.
In newly released bodycam footage of the exchange, the woman known only as Camille argued with flight attendants and local police before sheriffs were called in to handcuff and forcibly remove her.
The incident unfolded last year on a flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as a suspected case of 'seat squatting', with the woman arguing that she was on her way to a funeral.
But in the new 13-minute video of the exchange, it was revealed that Spirit changed her seat assignment at the last minute - without informing her that she had been moved from close to the front of the plane to deep in the back.
Officers with the Broward County Sheriff's Office had responded to the aircraft, which was fully boarded at the time - with the woman refusing to take up her new seat. The officer can be seen boarding the flight and make their way towards her.
As he approaches her, the woman starts explaining that she is in the assigned seat that was on her digital wallet.
'I'm sitting in my assigned seat', she says as she shows the attending officer the boarding pass.
He tells her: 'Ma'am, this says 13E', to which she responds: 'That's where I am!', a boarding pass the officer is holding states the seat as 37E.
She says: 'I've been so disrespected, I'm just trying to get to Chicago - I have a funeral tonight. I'm trying to be patient, I have lost my zen.'
Camille refuses to hand over her phone to allow the officer to speak with staff onboard with it, as he pleads that he is trying to help her.
'You're supposed to be in 37E, so I don't know what the mix up is', he tells her as she finally gives up her phone.
After the officer confers with staff he is informed that Spirit had changed her original seat from 13E to 37E.
Again the woman checks her Spirit app after being told by staff to refresh it to show her the new seat, but it fails to do so.
The officer again returns to the galley with the two tickets, telling them: 'If this is a mix up you've got to accommodate her.'
He then speaks with the pilot, who had already said he wants her removed, with the officer saying: 'I understand her not wanting to leave but something's got to give.
'I don't want to kick somebody off, who doesn't deserve to be kicked off because of an error.'
The pilot tells the officer: 'Here's my concern if she's not compliant with the flight attendants instructions, that's no bueno.'
The officer continues to go out and bat for her, saying: 'But if this all started from an error, do you see what I am saying?'
The bodycam footage then cuts to another officer who is standing with the woman, informing her that they would use force to drag her from the plane.
As he turns to walk back up the aisle the officer who had been speaking with the pilot says: 'If I can get her to move her seat she can fly.'
Despite this, she still refuses to leave the seat and starts arguing with the officers on the scene.
One of them then informs staff to deplane the whole flight so that they can remove her and take her into custody.
Four officers are then seen putting her in handcuffs as she is carried from the now empty flight.
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