Mike Tyson pictured at the OneOf GRAMMY After Party at Hakkasan Las Vegas Restaurant
(Picture: Getty Images for OneOf)Mike Tyson will not face criminal charges after he was filmed punching a fellow passenger on a plane at San Francisco International Airport.
Footage first shared by TMZ captured the moment the former heavyweight champion hit a man who was allegedly pestering him on April 20.
It was recorded on a Jet Blue plane bound for Florida.
Now the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office has said it has closed the case,
District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said in a statement: “These include 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 that no charges be filed in this case.”
Attorneys for Tyson praised the district attorney’s decision in a statement on Tuesday, thanking law enforcement for “careful, diligent and professional work.”
Previously, the boxer’s representative said the boxer had an altercation with a passenger after the man threw a water bottle at the boxer during a flight.
A representative for the former world heavyweight boxing champion said the passenger had been aggressive.
“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,” Tyson’s spokesman said.
Police previously said the victim had provided little details about the altercation.
They said the victim had refused to cooperate with an investigation.
Sarah Burchfield, a passenger on the flight, said she saw the man who Tyson punched at an airport bar earlier, appearing loud and quarrelsome.
“When I boarded the flight, I thought: ‘Oh, no, that drunk guy is on our flight,” Ms Burchfield told SFGate.
Ms Burchfield said when she boarded she passed Tyson’s seat in the first class section of the plane.
“The belligerent guy was sitting right behind him and I saw they were interacting,” she said. A short time later, she heard the confrontation in first class, she added.
Tyson made sporting history when he became the youngest heavyweight champion in history in 1987 at age 20.
