Mike Tyson was involved in a physical altercation on a plane Wednesday night. An edited video obtained by TMZ Sports shows the Hall of Famer punching a passenger sitting behind him.
A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department told ESPN Thursday that at approximately 10:06 p.m. local time “officers were dispatched to a physical altercation aboard an aircraft” at San Francisco International Airport. The department declined to identify those involved and said it does not release the names of those detained.
Police said two subjects were taken into custody before being later 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 is seen with blood on his forehead, but it’s unclear what happened before. According to TMZ, they were aboard a JetBlue plane 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 Tyson spokesperson told ESPN on Thursday.
The police department said it is “aware of video possibly capturing the incident, which emerged following the initial investigation. That video was 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 beating a parking attendant with an open hand (charges dropped). In 1998, Tyson pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault following a car accident in Maryland. After a period of three and a half months in jail, he was released on parole.
Tyson retired from boxing in 2005 but took part in an exhibition fight with Roy Jones Jr. in 2020.
Tyson, 55, now focuses on his cannabis lineup in conjunction with his podcast, “Hotboxin’ With Mile Tyson.”
