A couple of Cuban origin was arrested this Tuesday at Miami International Airport after refusing to leave an American Airlines plane heading to Las Vegas.
The detainees were Eugenio Ernesto Hernández Garnier (27 years old) and his partner, Yusleydis Blanca Loyola (32), who were returning to the city where they reside after undergoing several cosmetic surgery procedures.
The circumstance that triggered the request for him to disembark from the aircraft was Hernández Garnier's unusual appearance, as he had blood on his head related to a hair transplant. The striking bandage did not seem very hygienic, which prompted a complaint from a traveler and the subsequent intervention of the crew.
According to the police report -quoted by local media- the crew of the flight asked the young man to clean the blood and replace his bandages. However, Hernández Garnier said that he did not have any clean bandages.
Faced with the man's refusal to leave the aircraft, his partner joined the protest, stating that if they could not fly, no one else would be able to do so. That statement raised alarms among the crew members, who requested the immediate intervention of the Miami-Dade police.
Yusleidys Loyola -known on her social media as "La Poni"- started to live stream the incident, which turned violent when they refused to get down and the police forcibly removed them.
"Call 911 because we are being discriminated against and abused," the Cuban woman told her followers while live-streaming how police officers were urging them to leave the plane. Although Loyola deleted the TikTok video, the images are circulating on various Instagram accounts.
"They know that I brought Tommy top, breast lift, arm lipo, I can’t even walk," said the woman, claiming that her physical condition was delicate and that she could not be subjected to force.
“If you don't get off, they are going to catch you and throw you out,” one of the officers can be heard saying in the images.
They were finally forcibly removed amidst the screams of Yusleidys Loyola, who was pleading for them not to "hit" her newly operated husband and shouting that she could not raise her arms.
The airline American Airlines issued a follow-up statement saying that two travelers "on flight 1858 to Las Vegas became problematic and did not comply with the instructions of the crew members. Law enforcement responded and removed both passengers from the plane."
Argemis Colomé, spokesperson for the Miami-Dade police department, said in statements collected by Telemundo 51 that if the individuals involved had gathered their belongings and exited the plane, "nothing would have happened."
According to the authorities, the Cubans were first taken to Jackson West Hospital for evaluation and then were taken to TGK jail.
The couple was released on a thousand-dollar bail, but they are facing charges for resisting arrest of an officer and trespassing on private property.
Upon her release from prison, in the early hours of this Wednesday, the Cuban posted a video on TikTok where she said that she did not care what people thought of them, that they knew they were right, and that they would provide evidence in due time.
After leaving prison, Eugenio Ernesto Hernández Garnier claimed in statements to Telemundo 51 that he had a letter from his doctor stating that he had no travel restrictions, and he denounced the violence of the agents.
On social media, opinions are divided; some describe it as madness to have decided to board a plane under those conditions, while others believe the mistake was allowing them to board the aircraft, but they criticize the way they were taken off.
A third group points out that the airline was within its rights to order them to disembark if it did not consider them fit to fly.
A couple of videos published by Yusleydis Blanca Loyola before boarding the aircraft confirm that both individuals were not in the most appropriate condition to get on a plane.
"#We're going, I don't even know how," can be read in one of them.
What do you think?
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