Mask 'Karen' Faces Assault Charge After Hitting Man In Delta Flight Spat

Keneci Channel

51-year-old ex-Raiders cheerleader, Playboy model and Baywatch actress turned jet-setting realtor Patricia Yanet Cornwall was charged with a Class A misdemeanor: "assault by striking, beating or wounding." She made her first court appearance Monday.

Cornwall hit and spit on an 80-year-old man on an hour-long Delta Air Lines flight from Tampa to Atlanta on Dec. 23.

A federal criminal complaint references the viral video of Cornwall arguing with a man identified by federal authorities only by the initials RSM.

The spat began as the ex-cheerleader tried to make her way from the restroom to her seat but found a flight attendant with a drink cart blocking her path.

"CORNWALL asked the flight attendant to help her find her seat to which the flight attendant asked CORNWALL to find an open seat until beverage service was complete," the complaint reads. 

RSM told police that Cornwall responded by asking the flight attendant, "What am I, Rosa Parks?"

RSM said he got involved at that point, according to the complaint, telling Cornwall that she "isn’t Black" and that they weren’t on a bus or in Alabama. That’s when the two became involved in a verbal altercation.

"Additional derogatory comments were made by both parties involved," the complaint reads.

Video shows RSM shouted, "You’ve got your mask down, bitch!"

"Did you call me a bitch?" she replies.

"Yes I did," he shoots back, a moment before he gets cracked in the mouth.

According to the criminal complaint. Cornwall allegedly struck RSM in the head with a "closed fist" and spit on him.

Last week's incident was reportedly not Cornwall's first brush with the law. Florida arrest records show she was arrested just last month on misdemeanor DUI charges in Walton County and released on $1,000 bail.

Cornwall also known by stage name Patty Breton in TV credits, appeared in one episode of Baywatch and one episode of "Married… with Children," both in 1996, according to an IMBD profile. She is also credited with two Playboy appearances the following year, including one titled "Women Behaving Badly." A 1992 Lime Rock trading card features her as former cheerleader for the NFL’s Los Angeles Raiders (now Las Vegas Raiders).

The mask mandate imposed on airlines by the Biden administration has become a huge focus of disruptive behavior. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, over the past year, there have been 4,156 mask-related unruly passenger reports.

Critics and airline CEOs have argued that the mask requirement is not based on science, as the air circulation inside a plane is much cleaner than the air in restaurants, bars, stores, or the living room -- thanks to the High Efficiency Particulate Air(HEPA) filters which commercial aircraft are equipped with.