No charges for Mike Tyson in San Francisco International airplane scuffle
SAN MATEO (CBS SF/AP) -- Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson will not face any charges in connection with a flurry of punches thrown at an unruly passenger seated behind him on a plane at San Francisco International Airport.
After reviewing evidence in the case, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced Tuesday there were no grounds to file charges.
"We have reviewed the police reports of the San Francisco Police Department and the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and have viewed the various videos collected by law enforcement from others on the airplane," Wagstaffe's statement read. "Our decision is that we will not file any charges against Mr. Tyson based on the circumstances surrounding the confrontation. 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."
The incident happened at around 10:30 p.m. on April 20 as a JetBlue plane was set to fly out of SFO headed for Florida.
According to TMZ, a witness on the plane said Tyson earlier had taken a selfie with a couple of passengers and was patient with one overly-excited passenger who kept trying to talk to Tyson as he sat behind the 55-year-old former heavyweight fighter.
The report cited sources close to Tyson as saying the man was extremely intoxicated and wouldn't stop provoking the boxer while in his seat.
The video shows Tyson leaning over the back of his seat and repeatedly punching the passenger in the head. The report also showed photos of a man gesturing toward Tyson in the aisle in front of him and another showing the man with a bloodied forehead.
The report said Tyson walked off the plane shortly after the incident.
"Unfortunately, Mr. Tyson had an incident on a flight with an aggressive passenger who began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat," representatives for Tyson said in an email to The Associated Press.
Another passenger on the flight, Sarah Burchfield, said she saw the man who Tyson punched at an airport bar earlier appearing loud and quarrelsome.
"When I boarded the flight, I thought, 'Oh, no, that drunk guy is on our flight,'" Burchfield told SFGate.
Burchfield said when she boarded she passed Tyson's seat in the first-class section of the plane.
"The belligerent guy was sitting right behind him and I saw they were interacting," she said. A short time later, she heard the confrontation in first class.
Since the 55-year-old Tyson retired from boxing, he has worked as an actor, podcaster and cannabis entrepreneur. He was in San Francisco for the annual 420 cannabis festival in Golden Gate Park, where he was promoting his cannabis brand Tyson 2.0.
Tyson became the youngest heavyweight champion in history in 1987 at age 20. During his career he had 50 wins, 44 of them by knockout.
In the 1990s Tyson served three years in prison after being convicted of rape. He has maintained his innocence in that case.
Tyson was briefly barred from boxing after infamously biting off part of Evander Holyfield's ear during a fight in 1997.
