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Woman arrested for punching Southwest Airlines worker

A Southwest Airlines flight lands at General Mitchell International Airport, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021, in Milwaukee. Southwest will let unvaccinated employees keep working past early December instead of putting them on unpaid leave if they apply for an exemption on medical or religious grounds. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) (Morry Gash, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

DALLAS – A woman has been arrested after punching a Southwest Airlines employee in the head during boarding for a flight out of a Dallas airport, police said.

Arielle Jean Jackson, 32, was arrested Saturday afternoon at Love Field, Dallas police said. Police said Jackson has been charged with aggravated assault.

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The incident happened during the boarding process for a flight from Dallas to New York's La Guardia Airport, Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz said.

Police said that Jackson first had a verbal altercation with an operations agent at the back of the plane and was asked to exit. As Jackson was exiting, she had another verbal altercation with a second operations agent that turned physical, with Jackson striking the agent on the head with a closed fist, police said.

Mainz said the the operations agent, a woman, was taken to a hospital and released Saturday night.

Jackson was in Dallas County jail on Sunday on $10,000 bond. Jail records did not list an attorney for her.