Federal prosecutors here have charged the mother of a 15-month-old girl with assault for allegedly hitting her daughter in the head repeatedly and pulling out bits of the toddler’s hair aboard an Alaska Airlines flight to Honolulu.
According to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Samantha Leialoha Watanabe is charged with simple assault of a person younger than 16 years old. The crime is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine. The complaint is unclear on whether Watanabe is a Hawaii resident.
The FBI says it has not arrested Watanabe but that the court will issue her a penal summons to answer to the charge.
The bureau said it cannot comment on whether it has referred the case to state Child Welfare Services officials.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services said the state cannot comment, either. The FBI says Watanabe assaulted her daughter May 3 aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 870 from Anchorage.
Witnesses who were seated one row behind Watanabe told the FBI they saw Watanabe smack the back of her daughter’s head, causing it to snap forward. They also said she hit the toddler in the face with a stuffed animal, as well as with her hand, causing the child’s head to snap backward. They said Watanabe also used both of her hands to shove the child’s head back.
The witnesses said during the assault Watanabe kept telling her daughter to "shut the (expletive) up," and "shut up, you little bitch."
One witness said Watanabe hit her daughter so hard, the girl fell into the next seat. She said Watanabe then picked up the child and slammed her down on her lap.
Two witnesses said as the child was crying, Watanabe pulled out bits of the girl’s hair several times.
One said Watanabe held out the hair as if showing it to the child before throwing the hair on the floor. The same witness said Watanabe repeatedly manhandled and threw her daughter on the seat, and when the girl tried to touch her mother’s face, Watanabe slapped the girl’s hands and arms.
Another witness said the assault lasted 10 minutes before flight attendants intervened. That same witness told the FBI that based on his training and professional experience, he believes Watanabe was acting as though she was under the influence of a central nervous system stimulant.
When the flight attendants confronted her, Watanabe told her daughter, "No one is hurting you. What’s the matter?" one witness said.
Two flight attendants told the FBI they saw Watanabe being rough with her daughter even before the flight took off. One said she saw Watanabe pick up her daughter by the arm during boarding. Another flight attendant said Watanabe grabbed and yanked her daughter off the ground with great force.
