3 women face federal charges, accused of beating Delta Air Lines security officer

Three women from Long Island are facing federal charges after prosecutors said they beat a Delta Air Lines security officer with his radio and punched another airline employee.

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The alleged incident happened on a jetway at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sept. 22, 2021, according to the Department of Justice.

According to court records, Jordan Nixon, 21, Janessa Torres, 21, and Johara Zaval, 44, refused to leave the jetway when they were told they would not be allowed to board a flight from JFK to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Officials said that they were “belligerent” and one appeared “to be visibly disoriented and possibly intoxicated, and another who was refusing to properly wear her mask.”

The woman had been scheduled to fly out on an 8:10 a.m. flight but was rebooked to a 12:55 p.m. flight, The Washington Post reported. Surveillance videos and receipts show the women ordered about nine alcoholic beverages between the original flight and the rebooked one, the newspaper reported.

The flight’s gate agent told the flight crew of what was happening on the jetway and the captain determined that they should not be allowed on the plane.

When a security officer told the women to leave the ramp, they refused and yelled and cursed at him, the DOJ said.

Officials said one of the women grabbed the officer’s radio and beat him with it before he fell to the floor. When the gate agent tried to help the officer, one of the women allegedly punched the gate agent in the face. The women then allegedly punched and kicked the security officer while he was on the floor, according to the DOJ.

The attorney for Nixon denies the allegations. The attorneys representing Torres and Zaval both declined to comment when asked by The Washington Post.

Both of the Delta employees were treated at a hospital for their injuries and neither have returned to work since the alleged incident, prosecutors said.

Nixon, Torres and Zaval pleaded not guilty and were released on a $25,000 bond. They were told not to travel beyond New York City or Long Island, The Washington Post reported.

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