MONTREAL -- Two pilots on an Air Canada Jazz flight were forced to break up a fight between two passengers who were brawling over a pair of headphones, police say.
One of the men was kicked off the flight at Trudeau Airport and has been arraigned on several charges.
The altercation delayed the flight to Winnipeg on Tuesday afternoon.
Montreal police spokesman Dany Richer said officers were called to the plane, which was still at the gate.
"The conflict began when one of the two men sat on the armrest of a seat and broke his neighbour's headphones," said Richer.
A fight broke out and a flight attendant was unable to separate the men.
"Her arm was hurt during the altercation," said Richer.
The pilots were finally able to separate the two passengers.
Jamie Lee Prefontaine, 26, of Winnipeg, was taken into custody and charged after police say he resisted arrest and tried to damage a police cruiser.
Prefontaine was arraigned at the Montreal courthouse Thursday on charges of assault with a weapon, uttering threats and mischief.
Air Canada Jazz spokeswoman Manon Stuart said the flight was delayed two hours.
If you search this article it will show up dozens of times, exactly the same. But I had a relative on that flight and a different story emerges.
Specifically, there were four natives who boarded in Montreal, all drunk. The one that was taken away by the police and subsequently charged was covered in gang tattoos and had been asleep in his seat and not responsive to the attendant who was trying to wake him. At some point the man awoke and using a chain from around his neck attacked the attendant bruising her arm resulting in his being removed from the plane by the police.
Which version is correct and why am I bringing this up?
It has to do with another story from last week concerning Air Canada's decision to put up their flight crews during layovers at the Sandman away from their old haunts at the Radisson in the city centre citing concerns over an increase in local crime which they felt was brought on by an influx of "rural" Mantitobans driven from their homes by flooding.
In this case there were several more articles from different sources each adding to the story. So much information that native Chiefs started calling for a boycott against AC and legal action against anyone and everyone, a predictable response that we won't address here. What was interesting was the way the Mayor and other provincial politicians and downtown business leaders combined forces to lash out at AC's very reasonable response to the situation in the downtown. They did not use facts like those that could very easily be found on CromeStat as was very nicely done by Menno Zacharias.
Instead he Mayors response was to find one or two people to claim, as a matter of opinion and without addressing any facts, that the Winnipeg downtown is super fine and just needs the benefit of the doubt. I kid you not.
Instead he Mayors response was to find one or two people to claim, as a matter of opinion and without addressing any facts, that the Winnipeg downtown is super fine and just needs the benefit of the doubt. I kid you not.
