Airport Employee Punches Man Holding a Baby in Shocking Photo
If there is one inviolable rule about air travel and babies, it is this: It is never OK to punch a person who is carrying a baby. Really, it’s almost never OK to punch anybody, barring extreme circumstances. But you really can’t punch a baby. If you punch a person holding a baby, and that person drops the baby, it’s basically the same as if you punched the baby. But this weekend people were stunned by a photo that captures the moment an airport employee punches a father holding a baby right in the face.
https://twitter.com/ArabellaArkwri1/status/891407362678018054
Twitter user Arabella Arkwright was waiting for an EasyJet flight in Nice, and it sounds like the situation had gotten very heated. According to the BBC, the flight had been delayed more than 14 hours. Everybody must have been pissed off. But a delayed flight is no reason to punch a man holding a baby.
The other people in the photo look stunned, too.
A crowd saw the employee punch a man holding a baby
Arkwright says the baby’s mother was trying to talk to airport staff because their flight had been delayed more than 14 hours and there wasn’t even anyplace for them to sit down. She and her husband were traveling with a baby and didn’t have a place to sit or access to baby food.
”The man with the baby … went over and talked to the Frenchman and the Frenchman didn’t reply, he just smiled and smirked and then whacked this guy on the left side of his face,” Arkwright said.
Arkwright’s 64-year-old husband reportedly pulled the employee off the baby’s father and marched him away. Security took the father and the employee away for questioning, but released the father in time to make his flight.
Everyone applauded when the father got on the plane. They all saw what happened in the terminal.
The employee was hired to provide special assistance to passengers
EasyJet says the delay was caused by a mechanical issue. They’ve also said that the man was not actually an EasyJet employee. He works at the Nice Airport, but not for EasyJet specifically.
In fact, the man actually works as a special assistance provider. He’s employed to assist people who need extra help with the airport, specifically people traveling in wheelchairs or who need assistance.
(Image: Wikimedia Commons / Ronnie McDonald)
