Unruly passenger duct-taped to seat on Frontier Airlines flight sentenced to jail

MIAMI — A man who was duct-taped to his seat by flight attendants aboard a Frontier Airlines flight in August was sentenced to jail time.

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A federal judge in Miami sentenced Maxwell Berry to 60 days in jail followed by one year of supervised release, WPLG reported. Berry has until Aug. 1 to surrender.

On Aug. 1, 2021, Berry was on a Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami when he was accused of assaulting a male flight attendant and inappropriately touching two female flight attendants. To restrain him, flight attendants then duct-taped Berry to his seat. Cellphone video recorded on the flight shows him being taped.

Berry pleaded guilty in February to assault charges, but had asked for no jail time, CBS News reported. In a court filing, Berry’s attorneys argued, “Max Berry is a good man who committed a bad act, that was not planned, it was committed in an unsophisticated manner, and it is an aberration.”

Two of the victims, Jordan Galarza and Tymerah Burgess, were present for the sentencing hearing in Miami, WPLG reported.

“He made an enemy of everyone on that flight,” Galarza told WPLG. “The people on that aircraft saw justice happen — more than we saw today.” Galarza said he thought Berry should have received more jail time, telling the station, “I think it’s a disgusting miscarriage of justice, in my opinion.”

Judge Robert Scola Jr. addressed Berry before sentencing, telling him “there’s no delete button” and that flight attendants should not feel unsafe at work, WPLG reported.

The flight attendants who restrained Berry were initially placed on paid leave pending an investigation, The Washington Post reported. The airline did not respond to the newspaper’s request for the results of that investigation or the employees’ current employment status.

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