Plane passenger grabs woman’s hair and screams obscenities in viral video of drunken meltdown

QUEENS, NEW YORK: A Southwest Airlines flight descended into mayhem as a female passenger threw a violent and foul-mouthed fit after being made to "sit next to a fat lady" on a cross-country flight.
The passenger, who has been identified as a 32-year-old Brooklyn-based illustration artist, Leanna Perry, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault following an obnoxious meltdown onboard a Southwest Airlines plane at LaGuardia Airport in New York en route to Kansas City, Missouri, on Tuesday, June 17, according to Daily Mail.
A slew of clips from the flight went viral on the internet, showing Perry cursing, slurring her words, kicking, screaming, and pulling the hair of an innocent plane passenger during her drunken freak-out.
NEW: Drunk Southwest Airlines passenger arrested after having a meltdown on a plane before takeoff at LaGuardia Airport.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 18, 2025
32-year-old passenger Leanna Perry was seen kicking and screaming on the ground after assaulting a woman on the plane.
"Your boyfriend’s d**k is like… pic.twitter.com/nhaX4lHs7m
Leanna Perry body shames and pulls hair of co-passenger
In one of the videos, Leanna Perry, who donned long black hair, a red baseball hat, and an all-black outfit, appeared to get into a verbal confrontation with another woman just moments before gripping her hair and screaming: “Shut the f**k up, don't f*****g touch me!”
Then, several individuals, including two Southwest staff members and an additional traveler, tried to intervene seemingly in an attempt to defuse the chaotic situation.
Freak out on a Southwest Airplane pic.twitter.com/kcOY4O9AJt
— LASHY BILLS (@LASHYBILLS) June 18, 2025
Subsequently, a female employee phoned another employee and repeatedly requested that Perry let go of the other passenger's hair.
“I'm not even touching her hair b***h,” yelled Perry as she still hung onto the woman's hair and grinned. After requesting other employees to notify officials of the incident, she yelled '911!' with her arms behind her back.
Still holding the woman's hair, Perry, who police said was ‘intoxicated’, yelled: “Yeah, I'm sorry! I didn't want to sit next to a f*****g fat lady.”

When she eventually took her hand off the woman's head, a Southwest flight attendant intervened and put wrist restraints on her before locking her hands behind her back.
Leanna Perry continues to throw around profanities
Leanna Perry’s meltdown didn’t end here as she continued blabbering, “Look at this fat lady. Look at this fat a** b***h. She can't even look, you can't even see her stomach.”
“It's horrible. Look at her outfit,' she added. 'Look at this fat a** b***h. Hilarious. You can't even show your mouth because you're embarrassed,” she added, pointing to the woman's face mask.
Her tirades only got more heated as she yelled at a man who was attempting to assist staff in holding her in check. "Oh, I'm sorry, Black guy! My boyfriend's Black, so shut the f**k up. My boyfriend's f*****g a Black guy, my boyfriend's a Black, my boyfriend's Black, my boyfriend's a f*****g Black guy," she said as she appeared to slur her words and stumble over the chair.

She then picked her head up and spat directly at the woman she was seen assaulting. Perry then collapsed to the ground, planting her face in the aisle of the plane while complaining, "I can't breathe."
She suddenly flipped around on the ground and continued shouting: “Shut the f**k up, I can't breathe.” Her legs then flew in the air as she continued cursing while passengers and staff looked on.
As several others rush in to help her stand, she becomes distraught and urges everyone to leave her alone before launching into another expletive-laden tirade before the video ends.
Police arrest Leanne Perry over drunken meltdown
Following Leanna Perry’s meltdown, Port Authority Police told NY Post that they responded to a “report of an intoxicated passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight at Terminal B of LaGuardia Airport.”
Perry was taken to a local hospital before she was handed over to the New York City Department of Corrections, the PAPD said.
“The Customer involved in the incident was removed from the flight and denied boarding,” a Southwest Airlines spokesperson said in a statement, adding, “We commend our Team for their professionalism during the incident.”
A passenger who recorded the dramatic episode told Daily Mail that Perry was so aggressive that she “knocked the glasses off the Southwest staff.”
“When she first started saying stuff I called out "why don’t you be nice?" She turned around and called me ugly a few times and that I could never get a boyfriend or have sex. I looked at her and said I’ve been married for almost 20 years lady,” the passenger recalled.