LONDON — Temperamental model Naomi Campbell was sentenced to 200 hours of community service Friday after pleading guilty to assaulting two police officers after an “air rage” incident at Heathrow Airport.
She was also ordered to pay 200 pounds ($400) to each of the police officers she attacked and 150 pounds ($300) to Miles Sutherland, the captain of the British Airways plane she disrupted, in addition to a fine of 2,300 pounds ($4,600).
She could have received six months’ jail time and a heavy fine for the six offenses stemming from a violent spat in April with British Airways cabin crew and police who removed her from a flight in handcuffs while waiting on the tarmac at Heathrow.
Prosecutors said Campbell had to be removed from the plane after using foul language, kicking and spitting at police, accusing airline personnel of racism and threatening to sue them after she was told that one of her bags had not been placed on the flight to Los Angeles.
Campbell was traveling in first class and became abusive to the captain after he left the cockpit to personally explain to her why her bag — and those of many other travelers — had not been placed on the flight.
Prosecutors said she shouted a number of obscenities and tried to kick the police who were summoned to remove her after she “ordered” Sutherland to delay takeoff and look for her missing piece of luggage.
At one point, the model accused the airline staff of being racist and said they would not have removed her from the flight if she was white. She told a white policewoman that the only reason she was being arrested was because she was “black and famous” and threatened to sue.
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