- Man slaps woman at Bogota airport after she refuses to give up her seat
- Woman sat next to man's wife and took an apparently unoccupied seat
- Bystanders intervened, leading to a large brawl and man's arrest
Shocking scenes unfolded at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota on Sunday after a man slapped a woman in the face for refusing to give up her seat at a Colombian airport terminal - triggering a massive brawl as bystanders rushed to defend her. The video of the ordeal, which is now being widely circulated online, shows the man identified as Hector Santacruz walking up to the woman, Claudia Segura, and demanding that she give up her seat. According to the New York Post, Segura had sat in the seat next to Santacruz's wife while he was away, and he became enraged when she refused to give it up.
"Get up or I'll get you up," Santacruz said before the assault, according to the outlet. He then turned to somebody and told them to make sure they were recording the altercation, and smacked the woman's phone out of her hand, before slapping her across the face. "He hits me on the hand, knocks off my phone, and hits me hard in the face and head," Segura told a local media outlet, adding, "The magnitude of the impact knocked my earring off."
Within no time, several horrified passengers - both men and women - rushed to Segura's defence and pushed the man away. More people joined in when Santacruz tried to sway them away and shouted angrily. Eventually, his wife leapt into the brawl and tried to calm everybody down.
Another video filmed just minutes later showed Segura lying on the floor as airport staff tended to her injuries. Santacruz, on the other hand, is seen being handcuffed and hauled off by security staff, with passengers cheering.
Also Read | Princess Diana's Lookalike Niece Lady Eliza Spencer Gets Engaged. See Pics
"I am affected and very afraid," Segura said of her state of mind after the incident, adding that she only sat in the fateful seat because it appeared completely unattended. "When I got to the waiting area, everything was completely full, and I only saw one empty chair," she said, per the Post.
"It didn't have any bags or clothes on (it) to indicate it was occupied, so I sat down," she added.
It is unclear whether Santacruz is facing any charges.
Santacruz's wife, Karen, later apologised in a now-deleted video on Instagram. "The person shown physically assaulting a woman is my husband. And you don't know how much it hurts me to say this out loud," she said in an apology video. "It really hurts me as a woman, as a mother," she added.
