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Mike CoppingerESPN
Mike Tyson was involved in a physical altercation on an airplane Wednesday night, with an edited video obtained by TMZ Sports showing the Hall of Famer striking a passenger seated behind him.
A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department told ESPN on Thursday that at approximately 10:06 p.m. local time “officers were dispatched to a physical altercation onboard an airplane” at San Francisco International Airport. The department declined to identify those involved, saying it doesn’t release the names of detained individuals.
Police did say two subjects were apprehended before later being released. One person was treated at the scene for non-life-threatening injuries.
“That subject provided minimal details of the incident and refused to cooperate further with the police investigation,” the officer said.
In the video obtained by TMZ Sports, a man seated behind Tyson who repeatedly had been trying to speak with him is later seen with blood on his forehead, although it wasn’t clear what happened immediately beforehand. According to TMZ, they were on board a JetBlue plane that was headed to Florida.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Tyson had an incident on a flight with an aggressive passenger who began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him while he was in his seat,” a spokesperson for Tyson told ESPN on Thursday.
The police department said it’s “aware of video that possibly captured the incident, which surfaced following the initial investigation. That video has been forwarded to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.”
Tyson, the former heavyweight champion, has been involved in multiple physical altercations in public. Among them: a 1989 incident in Los Angeles where Tyson was accused of striking a parking attendant with an open hand (charges were dropped). In 1998, Tyson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor assault following a car accident in Maryland. After a three-and-a-half-month jail stint, he was placed on probation.
Tyson retired from boxing in 2005 but did take part in an exhibition bout with Roy Jones Jr. in 2020.
The 55-year-old Tyson now focuses on his cannabis line along with his podcast, “Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson.”