Picture Credit: Twitter
Authorities will not file criminal charges against former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson after his incident on the JetBlue flight. Tyson was recorded on video punching a fellow first-class passenger aboard at San Francisco International Airport last month.
"Yesterday afternoon the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office concluded its review of the case involving Mike Tyson at the San Francisco Airport on April 20, 2022, and the allegation that he committed a misdemeanour against another passenger on an aeroplane while waiting at the terminal prior to departure," 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," Wagstaffe said.
Attorneys of Mike Tyson David Chesnoff, Richard Schonfeld and Martin Sabelli responded to the decision of not filing charges as they thanked the San Mateo County sheriff and law enforcement agencies "for their careful, diligent, and professional work.
What was the Mike Tyson incident?
The footage of the incident initially was found by TMZ Sports where Tyson sitting in his first-class seat waiting for the plane to take off from San Francisco to Florida. Here a man who seems very excited keeps trying to talk to him. The man was named Melvin Townsend III
A witness told TMZ that Iron Mike was extremely patient with Townsend before he started punching him. As the in-flight beatdown continued, Towsend apparently chucked a water bottle at Tyson according to a source close to the retired athlete who wasn’t on the plane at the time. Then the former World Champion reportedly walked off the plane while Melvin Townsend was given medical attention before he then went off the plane himself to go to the police
Later Mike Tyson’s representatives later told TMZ made a statement addressing the incident. The statement said, “unfortunately, Mr Tyson had an incident on a flight with an aggressive passenger who began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat.”