Kelli Lyn Ryan of Huntsville, Alabama mom and son Dylan Ryan arrested and thrown off MSC cruise for slapping elderly female passenger in ‘excessive behavior’ altercation episode.
An Alabama mother and son are accused of slapping an older passenger onboard an MSC cruise ship before the son was thrown off the boat in Jamaica for ‘excessive behavior,’ according to a report.
The duo, 49-year-old Kelli Lyn Ryan of Huntsville, AL and her son Dylan Ryan, were allegedly caught on surveillance video striking the ‘female victim’ on Oct. 6 on the MSC cruise out of Miami.
The alleged incident is reported to have occurred while the cruiser was still docked and prior to setting off for a week trip around the Caribbean, WAFF reported.
Female passenger over 65 attacked by Alabama mother and son duo
Dylan was removed from the MSC Seascape cruise ship at the first port of call in Falmouth, Jamacia, the next day over unspecified ‘excessive behavior,’ according to authorities.
The man’s mother was allowed to continue on the week-long cruise as it made stops in the Grand Cayman Island; Cozumel, Mexico; and MSC Ocean Cay — the cruise company’s private island in the Bahamas.
When the Seascape returned to Miami on Saturday, Oct. 12, Kelli was arrested shortly after disembarking by Miami-Dade police.
She was booked on a charge of battery on a person 65 or older.
Kelli allegedly ‘open-hand’ slapped the victim in the ship’s two-deck theater following a dispute around 9:30 p.m. Oct. 6, according to video footage obtained by cops.
The woman’s son was also seen in the clip hitting the victim several times, the ship’s deputy chief of security told police, according to Local10.
Details about what led up to the altercation and whether the victim and the Ryans knew each other before the cruise set sail were not released by police.
Social media responds
Onlookers took to social media in the days after the incident to speculate what may have happened to the 23-year-old who was left in Jamaica, as well as why his mother may have stayed on without her son.
‘Wow, how ‘excessively’ violent do you have to act for MSC security actually kick you off the cruise ship in a foreign port?’ Cruise Law News on Facebook posted.
‘Being dumped in Jamaica with no resources is no joke either,’ another user added.
With another replying: ‘Cruising on these big ships is dangerous, on so many levels.’
Opined another, ‘Part of the problem is that the cruises are so cheap that I hate to say it this way, but you get a lot of low class people who don’t know how to act. Add to that all the “drinks packages” and that you have a large number of people in a confined area and it’s a recipe for conflict.’
Passengers being removed from cruise ships is relatively rare, only occurring when there are severe behavioral issues or serious medical conditions.
