Sandy MaloneSan Francisco, CA – Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson will not faces charges for punching an obnoxious fan who wouldn’t leave him alone on a JetBlue flight.
The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday that they had finished the investigation and closed the case on the incident, NPR reported.
Prosecutors said they had decided against bringing criminal charges against Tyson based on “the circumstances surrounding the confrontation” that took place in the First Class cabin of the airliner.
“These include the conduct of the victim leading up to the incident, the interaction between Mr. Tyson and the victim, as well as the requests of both the victim and Mr. Tyson that no charges be filed in this case,” San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said in a statement on May 10.
The incident occurred at about 10:30 p.m. on April 20 on a JetBlue flight to Florida that had just boarded at San Francisco International Airport, TMZ reported.
A witness said Tyson was initially friendly when he and his buddy boarded the flight and chatted him up.
Tyson, 55, took a selfie with the witness and was patient with his overly-excited friend, who sat down behind the prize fighter and continued to try and talk to him, TMZ reported.
Cell phone video of the scene showed the fan acting goofy and bothering Tyson, who sat quietly in his seat minding his own business for several minutes while he was harangued.
The witness said his friend was inebriated and Tyson finally asked the chatterbox behind him to chill, according to TMZ.
When the man kept talking to him, Tyson stood up, turned around, and starting hitting him.
Cell phone video showed the fighter pummeled the much younger man in the seat behind him.
After the attack on the chatterbox fan, the witness said that Tyson walked off the airplane, TMZ reported.
The video showed the fan was bleeding from several cuts to his forehead and the side of his face after his encounter with the boxer.
The bleeding man sought medical attention and then went to the police to file charges, TMZ reported.
Representatives for the boxing legend said shortly after the incident that “an aggressive passenger began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat,” NPR reported.
Witnesses told SFGate that they had seen the man Tyson ultimately punched being loud and argumentative in the airport bar before their flight boarded.
“When I boarded the flight, I thought, ‘Oh, no, that drunk guy is on our flight,’ ” passenger Sarah Burchfield recalled.
Holly Matkin
