Twenty-one members of Bikers Against Child Abuse were thrown off a Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Salt Lake City on Sunday night after a member intervened in what he thought was an instance of child abuse.
The biker group was returning from a national board meeting in Austin, Texas, and needed to catch a connector flight in Denver.
The Denver flight was scheduled to take off about 5 p.m., said BACA founder J.P. "Chief" Lilly. But the plane sat on the runway with all the passengers on board for 3 1/2 hours for de-icing, then had to unload the passengers while a radio problem was fixed, he said.
The passengers got back on the plane and sat for another 90 minutes, Lilly said.
About 11:30 p.m., a father and mother were trying to tell their daughters, ages 2 and 3, to be quiet. BACA member Darrell Sparti said everyone on the flight was restless from the long delay and the two young girls were getting fussy. The mother tried to discipline the 2-year-old and spanked her in what Sparti called an appropriate manner.
As the young girl continued fussing and the mother spanked the child again, the father commented, "If you keep doing that she's going to be covered in bruises," Sparti said.
That comment made Sparti pay closer attention to the situation. He said that's when both the mother and the older daughter told the young girl to behave or their father would "get the belt."
The mother handed the 2-year-old to the father, who allegedly smothered her mouth with his hand as he spanked her and slapped her on the thigh, Sparti said.
"It was far beyond what a 2-year-old should get," Sparti said of the spanking.
Sparti, who was sitting behind the father, stood up and told the man to stop what he was doing. "The child, we felt, was in a situation where she needed protection," he said.
That apparently agitated the father, who allegedly told Sparti, "She's my child and I can discipline her any way I want."
Sparti said that was essentially the end of the confrontation. Both men returned to their seats.
About a half-hour later, however, the pilot announced the plane was returning to the terminal because of a "security incident."
"It was way calmed down," Lilly said of the confrontation. "I was asleep and they said, 'You're out.' "
Two people wearing Harley-Davidson shirts who weren't even part of the BACA group were also asked to leave.
"Anyone on that flight who was a biker was thrown off," Lilly said. "Discriminating against an entire group of people based on their dress is un-American. We're all pretty upset."
The mother and father with the two daughters were also asked to leave the flight, Sparti said.
Frontier Airlines spokesman Joe Hodas said if a pilot feels there is an unsafe situation, whether it's related to mechanical problems, the weather or a passenger, then the pilot "has the right to resolve that safety issue."
"They felt the safety of the passengers was compromised," Hodas said of the decision to kick the BACA members off the flight. "We wouldn't do it if we didn't have to."
According to Frontier, more than one BACA member was involved in the confrontation and physical threats to passengers were made.
"We're not in the business of kicking passengers off our flight. It's not something we're fond of doing," Hodas said.
Sparti disputes the claim that physical threats were made. "I said, 'If you want to discuss this further, we can discuss it off the plane.' "
Once they were off the plane, BACA members asked, unsuccessfully, for their luggage.
Hodas said keeping the bags on the plane was a safety issue and was done to prevent another long delay for the rest of the passengers.
Denver police were called to the terminal when the BACA group left the plane, but no charges were filed.
The group spent the night at a hotel, boarded the first flight out of Denver on Monday morning and arrived back in Salt Lake City about 9 a.m.
Lilly said his group plans to pursue legal action against Frontier Airlines. The incident will not deter his group from doing the same thing again on any future flight, he said. "We can't tolerate that type of treatment with children," he said.
BACA was formed in Provo in 1995. The group now has more than 250 members nationwide. The goal of BACA is to help abused children feel empowered in court to testify against those who allegedly abused them.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com