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Former prosecutor says conduct of Atlanta airport traveler 'cannot be tolerated'

By FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
Published  January 6, 2022 9:52pm EST
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport
FOX 5 Atlanta

Spirit Airlines customer arrested at Atlanta airport

According to police, the traveler used a racial slur during a dispute with a Spirit Airlines employee. The man then allegedly assaulted a second airline employee before he was taken into police custody.

ATLANTA - A man traveling through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was arrested after police said he attacked two airport employees.

Michael Norris, 30, of Philadelphia, was booked into the Clayton County jail on Dec. 2 on assault charges.

Staffing shortages due to the surge in omicron variant cases and bad weather have led to ongoing delays and cancellations of thousands of flights over the past two weeks. It has created a tense situation with many travelers having their tempers flare.

AUTHORITIES WORK TO SLOW FLOW OF WEAPONS AT ATLANTA'S AIRPORT SECURITY CHECKPOINTS

Norris snapped his fingers to make the point to a Spirit Airlines gate agent to hurry up and rebook his flight to the Northeast one day after New Year’s, police said.

"That kind of conduct in any setting cannot be tolerated," said former Clayton County prosecutor Keith Martin.

The behavior Martin is talking about quickly worsened toward the female Spirit employee. The canceled passenger hurled a racial slur and repeated it in the ticket line, according to police. 

"You cannot expect your interest are superiors to everyone else’s," said Martin.

MORE THAN 100 FLIGHTS CANCELED AT ATLANTA AIRPORT

Flight cancelations affect Atlanta airport

Travelers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are dealing with flight delays and more than 100 cancelations as airlines struggle to staff planes amid a COVID-19 surge.

At a time when passenger traffic has been backed up for a variety of reasons. 

"This is by far the worst toxic mix that one could have imagined. No. 1, you’re in a pandemic, No. 2, that pandemic is hitting airport staff, OK, and it is making every other traveler more anxious. And then with reduced flights, and of all things, a holiday, you got the worst mix of what I believe I have ever seen," said Martin.

Norris grudgingly headed to a different location for rebooking, but on the way he confronted a second worker -- a wheelchair escort -- and allegedly assaulted him, this time physically, punching the man in the face, police said.

"And to spit on him and to make the comments that he made to both of them is far outside of the stress that a person normally should feel at the airport," Martin said.

Norris has since bonded out of the Clayton County jail.

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