Selomit Velez-Rodriguez arrested after Southwest Airlines Gate meltdown at Orlando airport which saw the woman attacking a worker after unable to be accommodated for flight back to her home in Illinois.
Define airport etiquette…? A woman caught in viral video having an amazing meltdown at Orlando International Airport was arrested after footage showed her assaulting a Southwest Airlines worker last week.
Selomit Velez-Rodriguez, 46, was arrested and charged with battery, criminal mischief and resisting an officer without violence following an August 14 episode at the Florida airport, FOX35 reported.
Outraged passenger attacks Southwest Airlines gate agent, bashes computer in wild Orlando airport meltdown https://t.co/IxRrZA5PWr pic.twitter.com/sVGZsdZhtO
— New York Post (@nypost) August 20, 2025
The plane passenger’s arrest follows the traveler going into a rage, as she lashes out at a Southwest airlines employee, including knocking down their computer screen after she was unable to be placed on three back to back flights to her destination.
A fellow traveler, Peyton Turbeville, recorded Velez-Rodriguez as she screamed at the hapless airline employee.
‘Motherf—–,’ the woman says at the beginning of the clip. ‘Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?’
A Southwest employee wearing a pink polo shirt is heard warning others to back away from the irate traveler. After attempted to talk to her in a calm manner, the woman kicked towards the male airport worker.
‘That’s assault,’ Turbeville is heard saying behind the camera.
After taunting the employee and chasing him behind the counter, the woman slams a computer monitor with her phone three times.
‘Two flights wasted,’ she shouts. ‘Three planes, after 45 minutes.’
Turbeville told Storyful the incident occurred after the woman did not make the standby list for three flights.
It appears that the woman mentioned in the video that she was traveling to bury a loved one, possibly her brother, a state of affairs that could’ve put her over the edge.
After following the employee in a pink polo out into the terminals main walkway, she screamed at other travelers to call the police.
‘I have my rights,’ she said. ‘So that’s what I want, the police.’
Turbeville said the woman was frustrated after not making standby on a number of flights, ‘She tried to get in through the gate after it closed, and they asked her to stop.’
But there was more to come.
The unhinged woman went on to confront a traveler sitting in the waiting area: ‘It’s not your brother who’s dying, it’s not your brother that you need to go disconnect, right?’
The woman made her way back to the Southwest counter to punch a different monitor, knocking it off the surface.
A representative for the Orlando Police Department confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE Mag that officers responded to a report of a battery around 9:30 p.m. local time last Thursday.
‘Witnesses told officers that the suspect, identified as Selomit Velez-Rodriguez… attempted to disrupt the boarding process of a flight, struck an airline employee, and damaged a computer monitor and keyboard valued at more than $1,000.’
According to court records, Velez-Rodriguez’s bond was reduced to $5,000. She was released and allowed to return home to Illinois.
