Susan Peirez started shouting after being seated near a baby.
A woman who caused a scene on a Delta Air Lines flight after being seated near a baby has been placed on leave from her job.
Susan Peirez was caught on cell phone video berating a flight attendant. In the video, which has been viewed nearly two million times online, Peirez threatens the flight attendant's job and claims she works for "the governor."
Peirez has now been placed on leave from the New York State Council on the Arts pending the outcome of an investigation. The agency where Peirez works is investigating the situation. As of Monday, her name and image have been removed from the council's official website.
The drama unfolded on Feb. 6 when Peirez boarded the Delta flight from JFK Airport in Queens, N.Y., to Syracuse, N.Y., and was seated in the back of the plane.
Marissa Rundell and her 8-month-old son, Mason, were in the same aisle.
Rundell says Peirez started cursing about her seat assignment.
"I asked her to ‘please don't use that language around my son’ and she said ‘shut the f*** up,'” Rundell told Inside Edition.
The passenger then complained about sitting next to the child, saying she didn’t “want to sit near a crying baby.” Rundell says her son was not crying at all.
A flight attendant then stepped in and told Peirez she could be put on the next flight.
Peirez asked for the flight attendant’s name and told her “you may not have a job tomorrow.”
When the flight attendant said she wanted Peirez off the flight, she seemed to back off and apologized, saying she “was really stressed out.”
The flight attendant explained the drama to a supervisor, and Peirez was ultimately removed from the plane.
Rundell says she was shocked at how quickly Peirez’s tone changed.
"It kinda made me laugh when she started to apologize because you don't go from being a psycho to apologizing and acting like she did nothing wrong,” Rundell said. “She totally deserved to get kicked off the flight."
Rundell shared video of the incident on Facebook. She says she had no idea it would go viral and feels bad that Peirez’s job is in jeopardy.
"We ask that customers embrace civility and respect one another when flying Delta," a Delta spokesman wrote in a statement to Fox News about the incident. "This customer’s behavior toward a fellow customer on a flight from New York to Syracuse was not in keeping with those standards.
"We appreciate our Endeavor Air flight attendant’s commitment to Delta’s core values and apologize to the other customers on board Flight 4017 who experienced the disturbance."
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