No Charges For Mike Tyson After Punching JetBlue Passenger

SharonKurheg

3 years ago

Back in April, Mike Tyson, commonly considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, was filmed repeatedly punching a fellow passenger on a JetBlue flight.

The event initially happened on a red-eye flight scheduled to travel from San Francisco to Miami.

As originally documented on TMZ on April 21st:

A witness on the plane says as he and his friend were boarding Tyson’s flight … the boxing legend was initially cool with them and the other passengers.

The witness tells us Mike took a selfie with him … and then was patient with his overly excited buddy, who kept trying to talk to the 55-year-old fighter as he sat behind him.
Eventually, though, we’re told Tyson had enough of the guy behind him talking in his ear … and told him to chill. When the guy didn’t, that’s when the witness says Tyson started to throw several punches at the man’s face.

TMZ also has a video of the guy, Melvin Townsend III, of Punta Gorda, who appeared to be, well, a little too excited to see Tyson sitting in front of him, as well as “Iron Mike” punching the crap out of him later on in the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3C4pWwDqps

According to representatives for Tyson, Townsend, who has a long criminal history of identity theft, trafficking stolen property, and drug charges, was acting in an aggressive manner. He was said to be harassing Tyson and was seen (but not shown on video) to throw a water bottle at him while he was seated (Townsend denies throwing a water bottle at him). According to witnesses, Tyson walked off the plane, which still hadn’t taken off, not long after the event. Townsend received medical attention and both men spoke to police about the incident.Anyway, there’s now an update – a California district attorney has declined to file charges against Tyson for the incident.

“We have reviewed the police reports of the San Francisco Police Department and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office and have viewed the various videos collected by law enforcement from others on the airplane,” San Mateo County District Attorney Steven Wagstaffe said in a statement. “Our decision is that we will not file any charges against Mr. Tyson based on the circumstances surrounding the confrontation.

“These include the conduct of the victim leading up to the incident, the interaction between Mr. Tyson and the victim, as well as the requests of both the victim and Mr. Tyson that no charges be filed in this case.”

The case has been closed.

Y’all, if you ever see Mike Tyson, or any celebrity on a plane, leave them alone. Act cool. I promise they’re just the same as you and me – just trying to get to their next place.

Feature image (cropped): Dennis Crwoley / flickr

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