Two Canadian women charged with assaulting or obstructing state deputy sheriffs at Honolulu Airport are "victims of bullying by the sheriff’s department," their lawyer said Tuesday.
Rachel Francis, 20, of Surrey, British Columbia, is charged with second-degree assault after an incident Thursday in which she got into a confrontation with two deputy sheriffs at Honolulu Airport while being questioned about her conduct aboard an Allegiant Air flight from Washington state.
Toni Schwartz, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, said the incident occurred Thursday at Honolulu Airport’s Gate 17 at 8:20 p.m. after the airport duty manager requested sheriff deputies to investigate a report of disruption on the plane.
WHEN the plane reached the gate, Schwartz said, the pilot asked that Francis and her sister, Mary Francis, 22, be removed and questioned because they had been belligerent with flight attendants and disruptive to passengers during the flight.
While the two deputies were interviewing the two women, Rachel Francis allegedly assaulted a deputy sheriff, Schwartz said.
Mary Francis tried to intervene and was charged with obstruction of government operations.
Both crimes are misdemeanors carrying a maximum jail term of one year.
At a District Court appearance Tuesday morning, Daniel Kawamoto, the lawyer for the sisters, told District Judge Leslie Hayashi that they are "good people," pointing out that Rachel Francis won a competition among 350 people to be the face of an anti-bullying campaign in Surrey.
"It is ironic that they are victims of bullying by the sheriff’s department," Kawamoto told the court.
