6:10 p.m. ET
Mike Coppinger ESPN
Mike Tyson was involved in a physical altercation on a plane on Wednesday night, with edited video obtained by TMZ Sports showing the Hall of Famer punching a passenger seated behind him.
A spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department told ESPN Thursday that around 10:06 p.m. local time, “officers were sent to a physical altercation aboard a plane” at San Francisco International Airport. The department declined to identify those involved and said it did not release the names of those detained.
Police said two people were arrested before they were later released. One person was treated at the scene for non-life threatening injuries.
“This person provided minimal details of the incident and refused to further cooperate with the police investigation,” the officer said.
In video obtained by TMZ Sports, a man sitting behind Tyson who had repeatedly attempted to speak to him is later seen with blood on his forehead, although what happened immediately before was not clear. According to TMZ, they were on board a JetBlue plane bound for Florida.
“Sadly, 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 sitting in his seat,” a Tyson spokesman told ESPN on Thursday.
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The police department said it was “aware of video that may have captured the incident, which emerged after the initial investigation. This video has been forwarded to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.”
Tyson, the former heavyweight champion, has been involved in several public physical altercations. Among them: a 1989 incident in Los Angeles in which Tyson was accused of open-handedly striking a parking attendant (charges were dropped). In 1998, Tyson pleaded no-appeal to assault following a car accident in Maryland. After serving three and a half months in prison, he was placed on probation.
Tyson retired from boxing in 2005 but competed in an exhibition fight with Roy Jones Jr. in 2020.
Tyson, 55, is now focusing on his cannabis line along with his podcast, Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson.