Three women have been arrested for refusing to leave a plane after they boarded with too many carry-on bags, according to the cops.
Nafisa Dockery, 30, Davana Cochran, 26, and Dionjana Cochran, 21, were at Miami International Airport Sunday night, boarding a Frontier flight to Philadelphia when the incident occurred, according to arrest reports obtained by The Independent from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.
The trio was being checked onto the plane when a Frontier employee noticed they had only paid for one of the two carry-on bags they had with them, according to the arrest report.
When the employee said the women needed to step out of line and pay for the extra bag, they began a “verbal altercation” with the worker, police said.
After the employee again explained they needed to pay for the extra bag or be removed from the flight, Dockery told the other two in her group, “We don’t have to listen, let’s just go,” the arrest report said.
The trio then rushed onto the plane through a door marked “restricted area authorized personnel only,” according to the report.
When the cops showed up, a Frontier manager said the group’s boarding passes were being denied because of their actions and requested they be removed from the plane, police said.
Police went onto the plane and told the women they no longer had valid boarding passes and needed to leave the plane, but they refused, according to the arrest report.
The cops warned the women that they would be arrested for trespassing if they did not leave the plane, the report said. Despite multiple warnings, the women continued to refuse the police’s orders and were then arrested, the cops said.
Police requested that all passengers leave the plane so they could arrest the trio, and then the women tried to leave with the crowd, according to the report. As Dockery walked off the plane, she spat on someone, the report said.
Once the women were off the plane, the cops tried to handcuff them, but they resisted arrest, police said. After a “brief struggle,” the trio was taken into custody, according to authorities.
The incident caused the flight to be delayed for more than an hour, police said.
All three women were charged with Resisting Officer Without Violence To His Person and Trespass Property/After Warning. Dockery was also charged with Battery.
They were taken to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Information about the women’s legal representation was not immediately clear.
The Independent has reached out to Frontier for comment.
