You never know who you’re going to share an airplane with when you get aboard a flight. And in August of 2021, no one on Maxwell Berry’s Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami knew that they’d be witnessing several crimes happening in the air that day.
According to police, the 23-year-old had groped the breasts and backsides of two female flight attendants, and was later seen on video punching a male attendant who attempted to constrain him.
The only way anyone could get him to remain seated was to use seat-belt extenders as well as duct tape to literally tape him to his seat for the remainder of the flight. They also taped his mouth shut to keep him quiet, as he was shouting and screaming in front of the other passengers.
Berry pled guilty to three counts of assault and S. District Judge Robert Scola Jr. gave him 60 days in prison with one year of supervised release. He was instructed to report to prison by August 1, approximately one whole year after he was taken into custody at Miami International Airport after the incident occurred.
“He’s a really good kid from a great family, who was punished for his worst day,” said Berry’s lawyer Jason Kreiss in a statement. “Although we don’t believe 60 days was necessary based on Max’s significant self-reform and other mitigating factors, we respect the judgment of the court.”
According to multiple sources, Berry was under the influence of alcohol at the time. After he spilled a drink on himself during the flight, he went to the bathroom to clean off. When he emerged from the restroom, he had removed his shirt, so a flight attendant helped him get a clean one out of his bag.
Berry began to walk through the cabin and that’s when he groped the women and punched the male. Many passengers aboard the flight had stepped in to try and restrain him when he became unruly.
Many people on board whipped out their cell phones to capture the whole thing. Check out the video below with footage from one passenger named Alfredo Rivera.
“He kept screaming and cursing—in my opinion they [the flight attendants] did a very good job,” he said.
What do you think of how the crew handled this situation? What are your thoughts on Berry’s sentencing? What would you have done if you were a passenger aboard this flight?
