ORLANDO, Fla. — The details of an alleged punch thrown by a passenger at a deaf pregnant woman's service dog remain up for debate, but new video shows some of the confrontation on the plane and an ensuing fight in the terminal.
Hazel Ramirez and her fiance Matt Silvay—who are both deaf—along with their two young children and service dog were aboard a Frontier Airlines flight from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Orlando, Florida when they say a passenger punched their 8-month-old service dog, a Great Dane named Zariel.
An Orlando Police Department report says passenger Tim Manley felt the dog was taking up too much space and irritating his wife's allergies, so he "punched it with a closed fist," causing the dog to yelp and take cover under a seat.
Silvay can be seen standing in the aisle of the plane arguing with Manley, cell phone video shows.
Manley says he considered what he did to the dog a "swat," not a punch, ABC News reports. Ramirez told Orlando CBS affiliate WKMG she and her husband were appalled by Manley's actions.
"So my husband gets mad and yelled at the man to tell him never touch any dogs or service animals," Ramirez told WKMG.
The argument then escalated from the plane and into the terminal of the Orlando International Airport where Manley is accused of punching Ramirez, who is five months pregnant, in her stomach.
New cell phone video recorded inside the terminal appears to shows Silvay shoving Manley to the ground. Silvay told police he tackled Manley in an attempt to prevent him from leaving before authorities arrived.
In the description of the video posted to YouTube, Manley provided his own account of the incident. Here's some of what he says happened:
They had a very difficult time keeping the dog confined in front of the seat even though since no-one wanted to sit there they had two extra seats. The dog was hyper and got up into the isle while the plane was approaching the landing. Through kicking and pushing the man was able to get it back under the seats though. When the plane stopped moving naturally a lot of people stood up in the isle. I being quite groggy was reaching down in front of me into my backpack. Upon rising up i found I was staring the great dane in the face. I instinctively pushed it away immediately feeling fear and alarm. The man went berserk and accused me of punching the dog, started pushing his hand in my face and kicking me...
Read Manley's full account here.
Frontier Airlines confirmed an incident occurred on the flight.
Neither the couple nor Manley accepted medical treatment
Officers took statements and referred the case to the FBI. Ramirez says she plans to press charges.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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