On April 20, the former professional boxer was caught hitting a male passenger, who later threw a plastic water bottle at him, during his flight from San Francisco to Florida.
- May 11, 2022
AceShowbiz - Mike Tyson can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The former professional boxer will not face any criminal charges after he repeatedly attacked a male passenger, Melvin Townsend III, on an airplane last month.
On Tuesday, May 10, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced that the former heavyweight champion won't face charges over his attack. Upon reviewing the evidence, the District Attorney's office decided not to file any charges against the 55-year-old. Possible charges included misdemeanor battery.
Though the exact circumstances leading up to the incident are still unclear, Steve said that the decision not to file any charges was "easy" because of Melvin's conduct and intoxication. "This case doesn't belong in criminal justice," he stated, "If the parties want to file a civil suit, that can still happen irrespective of this decision. The proper thing would have been to get the flight attendants who are trained to deal with unruly passengers."
The incident occurred on April 20, around 10:30 P.M. aboard a JetBlue plane before it departed from San Francisco International Airport to Florida. Mike initially had a few exchanges with the said fan and they even took a selfie together. However, the "extremely intoxicated" guy failed to leave Mike alone as he kept talking in his ear with someone from across the seat filming it.
Having had enough, the heavyweight boxing champion stood up from his seat and punched the man repeatedly. The fan later showed his bloodied forehead to his pal who said, "My boy just got beat up by Mike Tyson... Yeah, he got f**ked up."
Following the plane attack, Mike's representative issued a statement, claiming that the physical altercation happened after Mike was harassed by Melvin. The spokesperson stated, "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."
For Melvin's part, his attorney Matt Morgan insisted that his client didn't throw a water bottle at Mike. Matt further said that Mike "should have exercised greater restraint before using his hands on an overly excited fan."
