Woman caught on video throwing monitor at ticket counter employee at MIA
MIAMI - A woman who was caught on video throwing a computer monitor at an American Airlines ticket agent at Miami International Airport appeared before a judge on Wednesday.
Camila McMillie, 25, is facing charges of aggravated battery, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct.
During the hearing, her bond was set at $4,500.
Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer found probable cause for the charges against McMillian.
According to investigators, on Tuesday McMillie was traveling from Alabama to New York City connecting at MIA.
McMillie checked in to her flight at gate D-39, after being rebooked for missing her previous flight.
"While the subject was with the gate agent, her two minor children walked away without notice to use nearby restrooms. Once the subject noticed the children were not with her, she became irate and began to scream, demanding the gate agent to find her children," police said.
Investigators said she pulled the boarding pass reader off the wooden counter, damaging the equipment and countertop area and as she continued to scream, she grabbed the computer monitor and threw it at the gate agent.
Custom and Border Protection officers who were nearby detained McMillie until Miami-Dade police officers arrived.
McMillie was placed under arrest and charged accordingly.
The gate agent sustained bruising to her shoulder, according to authorities.
Trudy Hooker, who was traveling to the Bahamas with her husband Ernie, told CBS4's Peter D'Oench:
"My reaction is that I think this was a little overboard. She should not have acted so quickly like this." Ernie Hooker said.
"This was too violent. She should have taken more time to find out where her kids were. The person behind the counter had nothing to do with her kids wandering away. Someone could have gotten hurt."
Another passenger named Jim who did not want to give his last name said, "This was just an overreaction but it was a dangerous one."
"Acts of violence against our team members are not tolerated by American Airlines and we are committed to working closely with law enforcement in their investigation. Our thoughts are with our team member, and we are ensuring they have the support they need at this time," the airline said in a statement.
Airport spokesman Greg Chin is expecting a surge in passengers this holiday season and is urging travelers to be patient.
"Exercise caution and exercise patience," he said. "Prepare for the worst and pack your patience at the airport. We want to urge passengers to pack their patience and nothing take it our on airline staff or airport staff. Do not risk destroying your holiday plans because you lost your temper at the airport."
Chin also said the airport expects an ever age of 151,000 passengers a day through January 6th.
That is 10,000 more passengers a day than the previous year.
He also said passengers should arrive at least three hours early for domestic flights and 3 1/2 hours early for international flights.
He said, "We expect a slight uptick in passengers in the next few weeks, especially in the next few days including Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before Christmas and especially on the next Friday before New Year's Day."
He also cautions people that the parking lots at the airport may fill up and he urges travelers to consider parking at nearby economy lots or see if you can get a ride to the airport.