A woman who abused and assaulted her young daughter during a five-hour Hawaiian Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu has been ordered to pay $100 in restitution and complete two years of probation, but has escaped a potential 20-year jail sentence.
Samantha Ann Davis had to be restrained and guarded by an off-duty police officer for around three hours on Hawaiian Airlines flight HA9 on November 4 last year, before being taken into custody by law enforcement.
Once the plane was safely on the ground, multiple witnesses came forward to tell FBI investigators what had allegedly occurred, with one flight attendant claiming she was scared a “riot” was going to break out onboard.
As the Airbus A330 flew high above the Pacific Ocean, passengers sitting around Samantha and her daughter in the darkened cabin became aware of her odd and disturbing behavior.
One passenger reported seeing Samantha kick her daughter, and another said he hit her daughter’s head against the wall of the cabin.
As her behavior became more erratic and aggressive, passengers started to intervene, shouting at Samantha, which alerted flight attendants to the commotion taking place in the cabin.
One crew member said she had never witnessed anything like it, and on the instructions of the Captain, she worked with other crew members to move Samantha to another seat and have her restrained.
Although Samantha was initially charged with assault and interference with flight crew members, she reached a plea agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to a single count of interference.
On Tuesday, Chief Judge Derrick K. Watson sentenced Samantha to two years of probation and ordered her to pay the minimum sum of restitution, which is set at $100.
Although Samantha had been released on pre-trial bail for some time, she was sentenced to imprisonment as time served, allowing her to walk free from court.
Samantha’s defense attorney told the court that her client had been dealing with one of the hardest years of her life when the incident occurred and had recently taken sole custody of her daughter.
To deal with the stress happening in her life, Samantha had turned to alcohol, but realizes now that this was a mistake. Since her arrest, Samantha has focused on rebuilding her life in Hawaii despite not being close to her family and support network.
The crime of interference with flight crew members is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment, plus a fine of up to $250,000. In reality, long jail sentences are almost unheard of, even in particularly serious cases.
She’s a victim of her “disease” and “mental health.”
How has there been a sudden outbreak of these things in the last decade?