No charges will be filed against boxing legend Mike Tyson after he beat up a fan who allegedly threw a water bottle at him on a flight.
San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe announced the decision after Mr Tyson was seen on video attacking an excited fan on a taxiing plane in California in April.
Mr Wagstaffe told TMZ that his office had declined to file charges against the former heavyweight champion because of “the conduct of the victim leading up to the incident, the interaction between Mr Tyson and the victim, as well as the requests of both the victim and Mr Tyson”.
The video of the incident went viral, showing Mr Tyson punching a man aboard the plane headed for Florida on 20 April.
The victim was later identified as Melvin George Townsend III. He allegedly threw a bottle at Mr Tyson, 55, and had been spotted bothering the former boxer before takeoff.
Mr Townsend’s lawyer said the 36-year-old denied throwing the bottle at Mr Tyson and that Mr Townsend was just “overly excited”.
Mr Wagstaffe told TMZ that neither Mr Townsend nor Mr Tyson wanted to go to court over the issue.
The former boxer’s lawyers said, “we thank San Mateo District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe, the San Mateo County Sheriff, and all law enforcement agencies involved in this investigation for their careful, diligent, and professional work”.
Video shows Mr Tyson punching Mr Townsend ahead of the JetBlue flight from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale.
TMZ reported that Mr Townsend’s interaction with Mr Tyson was cordial at first, with a witness saying he greeted the boxer and got his taken picture with him along with one of his friends. But soon, Mr Tyson wanted Mr Townsend to be quiet and when he kept talking, Mr Tyson stood up, turned around and punched him several times in the face.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey Mike, come on, stop that,” a witness can be heard saying in the viral video.
Another video from the flight shows the moments just after the altercation, with the man filming the video saying “my boy just got beat up by Mike Tyson”.
“Yeah, he got f***ed up. Just trying to ask for an autograph. I don’t know what happened,” he added, as Mr Townsend can be seen with blood on his face.
A representative for Mr Tyston told DailyMail.com that “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”.
“Our client is a big Mike Tyson fan,” a lawyer for Townsend told TMZ. “When Mike Tyson boarded the plane, he became overly excited. At first, their interaction was cordial.”
“At a certain point, Mr Tyson clearly became agitated by an overly excited fan and began to strike him in an excessive manner,” the attorney added. “This situation could have been avoided simply by contacting the flight attendant. Our client denies throwing a water bottle prior to being struck by Mr Tyson.”
San Francisco Police said in a statement to DailyMail.com that “officers arrived and detained two subjects that were believed to be involved in the incident. One subject 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”.
