TAMPA, Fla. — With holiday travel on the horizon, the last things travelers want to deal with are delays – or passengers behaving badly at the airport. However, data from the Federal Aviation Administration shows unruly passenger incidents are still on the rise nationwide.
The FAA has investigated more than 1,500 unruly passenger incidents this year alone. That’s almost three times as high as when the FAA began tracking these numbers in 2017. Since then, the numbers have grown, peaking in 2021 during the pandemic, with nearly 6,000 incidents.
Police at Tampa International Airport deal with their fair share of so-called unruly passengers, many of whom have been captured on body cameras purchased by the independent department last year. For an inside look at the problem at TPA, 10 Investigates requested all reports of disorderly conduct and battery on law enforcement and watched hours of poor passenger behavior.
Cameras captured everything from a bloody fistfight with an officer, to a passenger being dragged down a jetway by the seat of his pants.
Most of the arrest reports suggested passenger intoxication – a leading reason why safety advocates are calling on airlines for more accountability.
When flights lead to fights
Tampa International Airport repeatedly gets high marks for being one of the best in the nation. Easy navigation, short lines – and of course, that pretty pink flamingo.
But every now and then, passengers get out of hand.
“The airport can be a very stressful place. People are running late. They're trying to make schedules. Maybe they have hours to kill before the next flight. They suffer a delay or two, they're upset. Throw in a little alcohol and people get angry,” TPA Police Chief Charlie Vazquez said.
Sometimes they also get physical.
Just before Christmas of 2022, a bodycam video showed Clayton Carrington arriving in Tampa. He appeared confused while trying to make his way to his luggage. As officers tried to redirect him to the main terminal, he refused and began to strike an officer in the face with a cell phone.
“The officer was bleeding, took stitches to the face, and his partner didn't know where he was hit,” Chief Vazquez said. “He just saw the blood coming out, and he was refusing to get in custody so had to take a little more force than usual to take that suspect in custody. Once the handcuffs were off, the force stopped.”
Chief Vazquez says scenes like this are outliers but raise safety concerns and disturb other travelers when they do happen.
“About 70,000 people come to the airport every day. We get a handful of disturbances, and most of those end pretty peaceably,” he said. “It's only once in a while at somebody, that these things become physical.”
Carrington faced felony charges for battery on a law enforcement officer. He was also charged with disorderly intoxication. 10 Investigates spoke to Carrington by phone. He did not want to do an interview, but he did say he is trying to put this incident behind him and move on with his life.
'Refusing to leave'
Not long after Labor Day of last year, Mitchell Murphy was set to fly out of Tampa International Airport but instead ended up at the Orient Road Jail in Hillsborough County after he refused to leave a plane, according to a 2022 incident report.
Tampa airport police said Murphy was denied boarding because of disorderly conduct and inebriation.
“Murphy’s speech was slurred; had watery, glassy eyes; a distinct odor of alcohol on his breath and difficulty following instructions,” the report stated.
Video shows a passenger trying to physically force Mitchell off the plane as police then had to carry him away by the seat of his pants down the jetway.
Murphy was charged with resisting arrest and drunken disorderly conduct. He completed a misdemeanor intervention program, and his charges were dismissed in September of 2023.
10 Investigates reached out to Murphy, but he refused an interview. Airport police say he did write a letter apologizing for his bad behavior.
Chief Vazquez says his officers are specially trained to deal with unruly passengers.
“We do quarterly high-liability training and much of that is response to resistance,” he said. “When an officer uses force against a subject, there is a separate report written and that report is reviewed all the way up the chain of command up to the chief, and we see if we can make better changes or change policy or change procedures or teach a particular aspect to an officer.”
Officers also receive training to recognize when a passenger might be dealing with a mental health crisis.
"We have what we call CIT - crisis intervention training. We take that from the state of Florida,” Vazquez said. “Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office recently helped us to take that training as well and provided a 40-hour block of instruction on that. And so, we thank Sheriff [Chad] Chronister for that.”
Liquor limits
Records show many incidents that result in arrests at the airport also involve alcohol.
Paul Hudson with passenger advocacy group Flyers Rights, says with the exception of long flights, there should be a two-drink maximum.
"We need a dram shop act, and we need some liquor control on airlines,” he told 10 Investigates. “Every state has what's called dram shop acts, which makes the server of alcohol liable if they overserved a customer. Airlines are exempt from that."
Ultimately though, it’s up to passengers to be responsible and to remember there are consequences if they are not.
"You don't want to get charged with battery on a law enforcement officer. That's a felony in Florida,” Vazquez said. “And you don't need a felony on your record."
Emerald Morrow is an investigative reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. Like her on Facebook and follow her on X. You can also email her at emorrow@10tampabay.com.