Late plane passengers arrested after ‘throwing coffee in face of gate staff’

Two passengers were arrested at Miami International Airport for throwing coffee in an employee’s face while trying to force their way onto a flight.

The two passengers, a man and a woman, were reportedly late boarding their flight to Mexico, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office reports.

But as they scrambled to make their flight despite missing the last call, they became engaged in a scuffle with a number of airport staff, which resulted in a cup of coffee getting hurled at someone trying to restrain them.

Video shared on social media showed cops tackling the man to the ground as they arrested him outside the gate, before eventually hauling him off in a cop car.

A second video showed the female passenger grabbed by officers and forced to sit down while police arrested her male companion.

Police later identified the couple as Rafael Seirafe-Novaes and Beatriz Rapoport De Campos Maia.

Seirafe-Novaes was charged with resisting an officer without violence, and trespassing, while Maia was charged with two counts of battery and trespassing.

An airport spokesperson said the Sheriff’s office is handling the investigation, but confirmed the employee involved in the coffee incident was an American Air employee.

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