An unruly airline passenger has been arrested after slapping and spitting on an elderly man for not wearing a face mask.
The dispute broke out on a Delta Air Lines flight from Tampa, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia on December 23.
According to the Atlanta Police Department, Patricia Cornwall caused a "disturbance" which "led to the injury of fellow passengers and Delta employees."
When the plane landed, Cornwall was met by FBI agents who took her into custody.
A video of the incident has since surfaced on Twitter. In the clip, Cornwall can be seen standing over a seated male passenger and aggressively telling him to "mask up". Throughout the fight, she herself is not wearing a face mask.
"I'm eating," the man - who is clearly quite a lot older than Cornwall - protests. When she continues to harass him, the man tells her to "sit down Karen," and she becomes enraged.
"What did you say to me?" she shouts. Around this point, flight attendants begin trying to restrain her, holding back her arms.
Eventually, Cornwall lashes out and slaps the man in the face. Flight attendants redouble their effort to pull her away, grabbing her arm and pulling her clenched fists away from the elderly passenger.
"Now you're going to jail! That's assault!" he yells at her repeatedly. His cheek appears to be bleeding.
Cornwall then tries to grab his face again but is pushed away by another passenger. Unable to move her arms, she pushes her head towards him and appears to spit on his face.
At this point, a second flight attendant pushes a coffee cart into Cornwall to try to shove her away. But by this point both she and the man are waving their arms and swearing at each other, and other neighboring passengers are being drawn into the fracas.
"Put your f***ing mask on," Cornwall repeatedly screams. When she is asked to put her own mask on, she yells: "I won't put my mask on until you put your mask on."
Finally, a third flight attendant is able to drag Cornwall away and the argument disperses.
Attendants then contacted officials on the ground, who were ready to arrest the aggressive passenger as soon as they landed.
Police are yet to announce if Cornwall will be charged for her unruly behavior. Delta Air Lines has issued a statement saying that such actions would not be tolerated on their flights.
"Flight 2790 from Tampa to Atlanta was met by law enforcement after an unruly customer disturbance during flight," a spokesperson told NBC News.
"Situations like these are rare for the vast majority of our customers and Delta has zero-tolerance for unruly behavior at our airports and aboard our aircraft."
