Back in the 1980s, Patricia Cornwall appeared on both Baywatch and Married… With Children under the stage name Patty Breton. She’s also been a Playboy model and NFL cheerleader. But recently, she made national headlines for allegedly attacking a man on a Delta flight and getting herself arrested.
The Washington Post reports that the incident started when Cornwall couldn’t get back to her seat after using the bathroom. The flight attendants were serving drinks, and the cart took up the whole aisle, so they asked her to sit in an empty seat temporarily.
“What am I? Rosa Parks?” she responded.
A male passenger told her “it was an inappropriate comment and that she ‘isn’t Black … this isn’t Alabama and this isn’t a bus.’” He then said, “Sit down, Karen.”
Instead of doing the smart thing and sitting down, she decided to escalate the situation and called him a pussy. That’s when the flight attendant stepped in and told her to put her mask on. Her response was to complain about the man not having his mask on either, even though that’s allowed when you’re eating or drinking.
When he called her a bitch (Rude, yes. But, I mean, if the shoe fits…), she hit him. It also looks like she spit on him.
The flight attendants more or less pushed her to the back of the plane after that, although that didn’t stop both passengers from continuing to yell at each other. She was then arrested when the plane landed in Atlanta and has been charged with “assault by striking, beating, or wounding.” If convicted, she faces up to a year in prison and up to a $100,000 fine.
Assuming she doesn’t have any prior convictions, odds are, the actual penalty will probably be much lighter than the maximum. On the other hand, you never know. Prosecutors may want to make an example out of her since the Federal Aviation Administration has gotten more than 5,000 reports of unruly behavior in this year alone. Attorney General Merrick Garland also recently issued a memo directing prosecutors to make these violations a priority.
Cornwall may also have a hard time getting home since Delta has already added her to its no-fly list.