Seema yasmin dallas morning news

A Spirit Airlines vendor at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has suspended a gate agent involved in a violent altercation that went viral online.

An airport police report identifies the agent as Emmanuel Sullivan of Grapevine and the woman as Ayriana Davis of Fort Worth.

“Our vendor at DFW has suspended the agent. Spirit Airlines does not tolerate violence of any kind, and we are working with local law enforcement to investigate this matter,” the airline wrote in a statement.

The airport’s criminal investigations team declined to comment. It referred questions to airport spokeswoman Cynthia Vega, who said in an email: “We cannot release any additional information regarding this incident at this time as it remains under investigation.”

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The video posted to Twitter shows Sullivan yelling at Davis in the airport, telling her not to touch him. The video has more than 10 million views as of Monday morning.

“You touched me first and then you got in my face,” Sullivan said in the video. “Don’t ever invade my personal space.”

“Get out of my face!” Davis screamed in response. She later said cameras saw the altercation and that the agent touched her.

Davis shoved Sullivan and called him homophobic and racial slurs, then reached out to hit him. Sullivan responded by running at her and hitting her as bystanders intervened.

In the police report, Sullivan said Davis exited the jet bridge and started yelling at him, saying there was no seat for her on the plane. He told her to get in line to speak to an agent, then took her boarding pass after she cut in line and became uncooperative, the report said.

Davis tried to grab her boarding pass back and Sullivan told police he pushed her back as she repeatedly advanced on him. He said he called police after she hit him on the head.

Davis told police that she “didn’t do anything” and Sullivan shoved her to the ground for no reason.

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Davis said she was waiting at a counter for an agent to help someone else when Sullivan repeatedly asked her to pick her boarding pass up. He then tore the pass in half, she said.

She said the pair began arguing and Sullivan hit her in the head before the Twitter video began.

Davis said she went to the hospital after the incident with a fractured left leg, abrasions on her right leg and other minor injuries. Photographs in the police report show a large abrasion on her right leg and swelling on her left leg.

Sullivan could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Davis denied using a racial slur, noting that she is Black. She said her language was because she was in “defence mode” after Sullivan hit her.

“I have no issues with any type of community,” she said.

– The Dallas Morning News

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) maintains a solid seven-point lead over Democrat opponent Beto O’Rourke in the Texas Governor’s race, according to a poll.

The Dallas Morning News/ University of Texas at Tyler poll shows 45 percent of registered voters support Abbott as opposed to 38 percent who back O’Rourke, a failed senatorial and presidential candidate. Libertarian candidate Mark Tippetts and Green Party candidate Delilah Barrios both garnered three percent of the response, while another seven percent said they support another candidate. Abbott’s seven-point advantage is consistent with his Real Clear Politics average lead of 6.8 percent.

Among Latinos, the current poll shows Abbott trails O’Rourke by seven percentage points, at 38 percent and 45 percent, respectively. A smaller gap exists among independents, with 31 percent supporting Abbott versus 34 percent who are behind O’Rourke.

Voters believe Abbott is better equipped to handle essential issues. Concerning crime reduction, 43 percent stated Abbott would do a better job than O’Rourke as opposed to 30 percent who think the former congressman would fare better. Similarly, voters supported Abbott over O’Rourke on the issues of border security, handling the electrical grid, and improving the community. The one issue where more voters believe O’Rourke would do a better job is in bringing Texans together.

The poll also gauges how Texans feel about President Joe Biden. Just 41 percent of registered voters approve of Biden’s presidential performance, versus 56 percent who disapprove to varying degrees, which included 63 percent of independents and 54 percent of Latinos polled. An even lower number, 37 percent, approve of how he has managed the economy. The plurality of poll respondents, 48 percent, stated “Biden and Congress” are mostly to blame for inflation. Another 27 percent pointed to “[s]upply problems,” and 12 percent said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is mostly responsible for inflation. Only nine percent believe Abbott and the state legislature bear most of the responsibility for inflation in the Lone Star State.

Before losing to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the 2018 U.S. Senate race, O’Rourke served as the U.S. congressman for the state’s Sixth Congressional District from 2013-2019. After coming up short in his senatorial bid, O’Rourke launched a presidential campaign in 2020 but failed to secure a single delegate in the Democratic primary, unlike seven of his opponents.

The poll sampled 1,384 registered voters from August 1-7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.