A Hagerstown, Maryland, woman is facing child abuse charges in Florida for hitting a child repeatedly on a plane after the boy called her fat.
Police were called to Orlando Sanford Airport’s Gate 2 on Monday by a pilot who claimed a passenger had hit a juvenile, according to an arrest report.
Responding officers found Kristy Crampton, 46, walking away from the gate with a group of traveling companions. Members of the group told the officers that there had been a disturbance on the plane and that they had left voluntarily.
However, witnesses told police that Ms. Crampton was the one who hit the boy with her fist, a water bottle and slammed his head into one of the plane’s windows.
The witness said Ms. Crampton was “whipping the [expletive] out of the kid,” according to the arrest report.
A second witness, who was sitting behind Ms. Crampton, the boy, and others in their party, said an argument ensued when the boy called Ms. Crampton fat and that she could not fit into her seat on the plane.
Ms. Crampton, whose relation to the boy was not specified, told police that he had been disrespectful and rude during a trip to Walt Disney World, that he called her “Miss Piggy,” that he had gotten angry when his phone was taken from him and that he had pushed her arm off an armrest before she smacked him, according to the report.
Police subsequently arrested Ms. Crampton.
She was charged with domestic cruelty towards a child without great bodily harm. She was released from jail on Tuesday on a $10,000 bond and ordered to have no contact with the victim.
An arraignment is scheduled for July 1.
The incident resulted in the takeoff of the flight being delayed by 20 minutes before it flew to Hagerstown.
