ROMULUS, Mich. – Aïcha Touré was on a Spirit Airlines flight from Atlanta to Detroit when she tried to break up what was turning into a yelling match in front of her.
An older woman accidentally lost her grip on her luggage and it hit another female passenger. That passenger became irate and was hurling abuse at the older woman.
Update: Roseville woman charged for racial slurs, knocking phone out of passenger’s hand on Spirit flight
Touré intervened and said she believed it was an accident. The female passenger, she said, then started yelling at her and called her a “Muslim terrorist.”
“She called me a lot of derogative names. She cussed my entire family out ... she went off in an entire rant,” Touré said.
When she picked up her phone to record, the woman she hit Touré. Spirit Airlines crew intervened and got airport police on the plane to arrest the woman who threw the punch.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing the case to determine charges; however Dawud Walid, executive of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Michigan chapter, said a hate crime should be charged in this case.
“We believe besides the issue of assault there needs to be an additional charge under the Michigan Ethnic Intimidation Act,” Walid said.
Original report: Muslim woman reportedly attacked on airplane at Detroit Metro Airport