Law&Crime Sidebar - Drunk Woman Dragged Off Plane Groped Flight Attendant: Cops

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

Police body camera footage captured an intoxicated passenger's arrest spiraling into chaos at Salt Lake City International Airport. Police say Cody Sierra Marie Bryne, 31, allegedly sexually battered a Delta employee while resisting removal from a flight. Former prosecutor Florina Altshiler joins Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber to analyze the legal implications of the sexual battery charge and how Bryne’s alleged intoxication and lack of physical injury factor into the criminal case.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code SIDEBAR at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/sidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Let go with my hands. Let go on my hands. You're hurting me. That hurts. More trouble at the airport. A woman allegedly gets kicked off a plane, allegedly sexually batters an employee, gets arrested. This is all on body cam footage, and we're going to break down every moment of it for you right now. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime.

I'm Jesse Weber. Let me tell you something. If you think the crime stories I cover are scary, wait until you hear what's happening with your personal data online. Your name, your phone number, your address, it's all out there. Easy for anybody to find.

The good news, our sponsor, Incogni, helps you disappear online. They track down where your personal information is being exposed, like on search sites or old forum posts, and they demand its removal. Look, when I signed up, they found over 50 databases with my information. And within days, it all started coming down. Setup takes minutes. You create an

account. You authorize Incogni to do the rest. And with their new Unlimited Plans custom removals feature, you can submit specific links and a team of privacy experts will personally remove them. So if you care about protecting yourself online, take your privacy back with Incogni. Use code sidebar for 60% off an annual plan. This started as a routine flight at a Salt Lake City. That is until police say a visibly intoxicated passenger was pulled off a delta plane and arrested inside the airport. And now, newly released police reports and body cam footage are giving us our first clear look at what officers say happened on the jet bridge, including an alleged sexual battery involving a Delta employee, a chaotic arrest in the terminal, and a confrontation that just spiraled very, very quickly. Police identified the passenger as 31-year-old Cody Sierra Marie Byrne. Now, according to police, Byrne was asked to move seats because of her intoxication.

Instead, they claim, it escalated very quickly, from verbal abuse to a physical struggle to an allegation that she grabbed an airline employee's breast while trying to leave the terminal. And the body cam footage that I mentioned, that captures the moment that this all seemingly boils over. Man, chill. Stop. Let go. Let go. Let go.

Let go. Let go on my hands and I will walk with you. Let go in my hands and I walk with you. Let go on my hair. You're hurting me that hurt. Okay. So what happened? Well, court records say this all took place on October 2nd at Salt Lake City International Airport,

just as passengers were boarding a Delta flight that was headed to Portland. Now, police say airline staff were concerned about Byrne that they believe she was in intoxicated and that they asked supervisors to move her from an emergency exit row. But as they were escorting her to a new seat, officers say she shoulder-checked a Delta employee and knocked her down. The pilot then comes out, orders her removed from the flight, and that is when police say they claim Byrne tried to run through a secure area on the jet bridge and assaulted the employee again.

This time, they say, allegedly grabbing her by the neck, her hair, and then her breast. Now, here's the thing. She was later found in the terminal, not trying to hail a cab, not trying to get out of there, attempting to book another flight. And that is where officers stepped in and made the arrest. But reportedly, she tried to resist. The charges here include sexual battery, assault, interference with a police officer, public intoxication. The woman denies grabbing the employee. She does seemingly confirm, though, that she had been drinking earlier in the day. So what we're going to do is we're going to break down what police claim happened because what began as a flight delay quickly turned into a criminal case. And the footage honestly makes it impossible to ignore. Now, to be clear about something, by the time this body cam footage starts rolling and police arrive on scene, police say the Delta agent had already reported the alleged sexual battery on the jet bridge. And officers have located Cody Sierra Marie Byrne in the terminal near the Alaska Airlines counter. So they move in fast and she immediately seemingly demands to know why she's being arrested.

I was drunk this morning. What? Hang on. No. Don't tense up. Let's see your phone. Let me see your phone. Turn around, put your hands behind your back. Put your hands behind your back.

Relax. Relax. Rest for what? No, I would like to know. We'll let you know here in a second. Relax. Relax. Relax.

Relax or you're going to get put on the ground. Relax or you can get put on the ground. What? What? Relax. What? A breast for what? Can you tell me what I'm being underrested for?

Yep. You tell me now. That's how you when we're ready. No, that's not how it works. It does actually. Oh, you're going to put them. Hey, 40, we got her. 1082 up here at Alaska on third floor.

What I'm not being arrested for? For assault? For assault? Yes. For who? Can you quit cranking the wrist? You need to walk? No, you need to relax.

If you walk, you won't be quick. I'm on a massage surface, you need to pump the brakes. I'm not pumping it. Relax. You need to walk. I will walk if you relax. Okay. We're not going to play games with you.

You're only going to get, you're going to get, you're going to get yourself. Let your self-stop. Please. You're intoxicated? Yes. Listen to yourself? You're going to get yourself in more trouble. You're hurting my bricks and then I'm a massage therapy.

We're holding on, make sure you don't fall down. That is not true. You need to let go. You need to. Stop, stop. Stop! Ma'am, ma'am, now, ma'am, chill. Stop!

Come out. Let go. Let go. Let go. Let go. Let go. Let go on my hand. And I will walk with you.

Let go in my hands. And I'll walk with you. Let go on my, you're hurting me. That hurts. You've already, I will walk with you. I will walk with you. Let go with my hands. I don't touch you.

That's hurt. Oh my God, you're hurting me. Still out. Stand up. You need to let go. Okay. I'm rolling. That hurts.

That hurts me. Please let go. Please. I will walk if you let go in my hands. Thank you. It really. I am relaxed. Relax. I'm a massage patient. I am relaxed. Okay. But his grip was not okay. Bring it down a little bit. You would love that, wouldn't you? We're happy to help you out. We're here to make sure that you stay safe, but we've got to investigate this. You're under arrest right now. So just relax. So at this point, officers are trying to walk burn out of the terminal, but she keeps seemingly insisting she'll cooperate if they let her go. Police say they can't because she's resisting, at risk of falling. And the struggle appears to continue as they move her through the airport.

I need. Thank you. That's all I need to do. That's all I need to do. Good. All right. Good. It's just a . . . . You work with us. What work with you? That was not okay. Oh, okay. Okay. We need to adjust. We need to adjust. We need adjust. Adjust what? Can I just go in front? No. Can we go in front? No. No. let go please. You're not. No, we can't let go of you. You're hurting my rotator cuff. Rotator cuff. Yes. It might be your backpack. How about we take your backpack off? Okay. I would like to face forward. I'm not going to be on. Oh my God. I'm not there. I need to

stop. Stop. Can you, before we get on the escalator, I need to move. I need to move. I need to Move. Let me go. I will go under a restaurant. But let me go. Do your safety, we can't let you go because you're a little bit integrated. If you fall down, that's on me. I need to go forward. I need to go forward. Anything you guys. You're heading towards the track. That's where my car is. That's where my car is. We're going to put her in there for now. I need to go forward. Rotator cuff.

Rotator cuff. Do you understand what the fucking muscle groups work? This is not okay. I need to go forward. Can you pause and reassess as a police officer? No, we're not going to just walk. We're just walking. This is hurting my rotator cuff. We're just walking.

I will gladly be under arrest, but I need to go forward. I need to go forward. This is hurtful. This is hurtful for me. Can you, no, I need to go. My arm can you go forward. Your arm, we're not going forward. They stay behind your back.

Oh my god, oh my god. I'm under arrest for speaking up for myself. You guys film the shit. It's not like city doesn't go. Alright, cool. Okay, light, light, light, light, light. Go us down. Jesus Christ, I got drunk this morning because I got broken up with.

And you're arresting me? Only because of your actions. What about your actions? What about them? You're hurting me. I'm not doing me to be able. Yes, you are. I told you multiple times. Let go of my wrist.

I let go of your wrist. You're not... Okay. Okay. Can you... I want the best punishment. ...kill me. Take me to be...

...ice... Wow, you guys have a... I'm hungry, huh? Yikes. Lady? A lady? Yeah. A lady?

Are you not? Oh my God. Where are we going? To the police car. Let's run. Can we just let me go? Oh my god. No.

Can you do a video? This is like actually... You're definitely on video. Can you switch me to lobby? All right. All right. This is a plot switch. Do that one?

That one? This is good this way. These are mine. I'll move them. Okay. Okay. Now, once they get burn away from the crowds, officers, they shift into procedure. They search her, they secure her belongings, they prepare to place her in a patrol car. But even here, the confrontation doesn't cool off. Let's do a quick search on her, make sure you do everything. Quick search, yeah, check my backpack, please.

We will. Pull that, pull that bag, that shoulder. All of my, easier something done, brother. Pull some equipment. Wow! This is serious, okay. So, there's drugs in everything. They come out, bro. I put, see, I put fascism, I put everything.

No. No, no, that's not necessary. Thank you, thank you. Let's take your house. Let it go. Let go. Let me go. I'm talking because of behavior.

Yeah, I'm not worried about that, though. Thank you. Listen. No cuts necessary. Can you put that? Listen. If we take your cuff off real quick, to get your backpack off, are you going to fight us?

No. I don't give a . Yes. Take it off. Take it off. Take it up. Hey. We are.

Okay. Stop! Relax. Relax. That's a power trip. Relax. Don't tell me to relax. That's a power trip.

I will tell you to relax, because you need to relax. That's a power trip. You know it is. Relax. Okay, there we go. Oh, my, my bomb patch backpack. All right. Alright, take me into the .

You're in the car already. You're in the car already. It's there. It's coming, don't worry. It's coming. Okay to me. Let it go. Let it go.

Let it go. Let it go. Penley? Yes. Comp the brakes. We have got it. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Have you ever gone to 843's call? In this morning? That was like 12 hours ago. Okay.

Have you ever gone to a bad breakup? I got, you got a little time? You, that's fine. And that's, I love that for you. I got a little drunk this morning because I got, I got abused from my partner, and I drank about it. So that was my...

That's not helping you right now. That's what I'm trying to explain to me. That's my... This morning. This morning. I had most of the description, right, except for the black tank top, which I thought was all of which...

Probably because of the, I remember the backpack being hauled. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It was close enough, right? Okay. I saw it and I knew exactly what was it. The shot was like, good deal with. Yeah.

She must have just bypassed the whole time. What she wants? Oh, my mom? No. Okay, well, you're not in the position. You're not in the position to make demands. I'll just... I'm not trying to make to make demands.

Sounds like it. Sounds like it. This is all... This is all, this... Can I call my mom? We'll let you do a call, but not right now. Can I call my mom right now? Nope. Okay.

Can we put now right off? I can make love? Like this. We don't know if you have something you can say, I was talking this morning, yeah, I tried to board a flight, yeah. Why am I being under a restroom? We told you. We told you assault.

You're under arrest for assault. You assaulted Delta employees, so that's why we're here. And you're under arrest for that. Wait, what? Who do you probably throw on there resisting arrest? You are probably, that is actually not a probable cause. That is probable cause, actually. And it's all on video, so more like dead rights, but whatever.

Wait, I'm sorry, this is amazing. By the time that exchange ends, exchange ends. Cody Sierra Marie Bern is in handcuffs headed toward a patrol car, still arguing, still insisting she's being mistreated while officers repeatedly tell her she's under arrest for assault. But the body cam only shows us how this arrest unfolded, not whether police had the legal footing to do what they did or how serious these allegations actually are. That's what we want to talk about now. All right, I want to bring in somebody who has handled both sides of cases like this. We're joined in studio by Florina Altschiler, a former prosecutor. By the way, from Alaska, talking about

Alaska Airlines, by the way. And now a criminal defense attorney. It's great to see you. Thank you so much for taking the time. You've watched the whole body cam video here. What stands out to you, maybe from a human point of view, but also from a legal point of view? Well, she does appear to be a little bit belligerent and drunk. But this really isn't the crime of the century here. She was belligerent. She acted inappropriately. She's charged with misdemeanors. don't see her getting any jail time as a result of this. Of course, we don't know whether she has a criminal record or not or what her history is, but assuming she doesn't have a record, I see her getting like probation or getting this reduced to a disorderly conduct and going on her

way. When you look at the video and the way the officers approached her and tried to, you know, control the situation, it seemed like she repeatedly was asking, you know, why is she being arrested, what's happening, what's going on? And they weren't. trying to explain it to her but they also it seemed like we'll get it to it in a second was there anything about the questioning of her the arrest detaining anything that looked off to you or was it by the book pretty standard people always want to know why they're being stopped why they're being detained why they're being arrested very normal questions to of course ask and officers typically don't

right away say you're being charged with whatever the charges be an assault or something else. Typically, officers want the person to calm down, relax, get the situation under control, get handcuffs on them, remove them from the scene, and eventually they'll explain. By the way, have you seen a lot of cases like this? I feel like we cover a lot on sidebar about people who are removed from planes or at the gate. It seems like, you know, intoxication or alleged intoxication is a culprit in a lot of these situations. Have you handled cases like this before you've seen them? So humans act like animals in all venues. and the airport is certainly not a place that's immune from that type of behavior.

Because it's a stressful time, stressful getting on a plane? Stressful getting on a plane? Sometimes I think people also have a lot of time to kill while sitting at the airport, waiting for the flight. That's true. And they're drinking. And they're drinking more than they should. Yeah. All right, well, here's the thing about this. So you have the written record where it becomes very, very critical because while the body cam captures essentially the chaos of all the arrest, The police report lays out what police officers say happened before the cameras were rolling. So according to the Salt Lake City Police, this case didn't start with resistance in the terminal. It started on board a Delta flight, and then on the jet bridge where officers say a Delta employee reported being physically assaulted and essentially sexually battered.

I'm going to walk you through what police allege happens step by step. We're going to use the incident report itself. So according to Salt Lake City Police, this all starts on the jet bridge after code. C.C. Sierra Marie Byrne is removed from that Delta flight. Now, officers write that as a Delta employee tried to stop her from running into the terminal, Byrne allegedly grabbed the employee by the back of her neck, pulled her hair, and then, quote, turned around and grabbed the employee's right breast with her left hand. Cody squeezed the employee's breast while also trying to twist her breast. While doing so, Cody stated, if I ever find you alone, bleep, the employee

screamed, don't touch me. Now, police, our understanding, is classified this allegation as a sexual battery. Again, we believe a Class A misdemeanor under Utah law, said not that serious. But that's technically, during an altercation, could that be considered a sexual battery? Technically it can. The main issue is there's no reported injury, and the employee right in the police report states that she is not injured. And then to make things more difficult for prosecution. They didn't take any pictures of the area. Let me let me explain it. So they said the victim, yeah, she wasn't injured because of where this alleged contact happened. There were no photographs that were apparently taken, no visible injuries were observed.

Is that a problem for a prosecutor? It's a problem because for them to be able to successfully charge a higher level assault crime, there has to be an injury. And if there is no injury, that's a critical element that's going to be missing. Well, it's not just her account of it, right? According to the report, you have a second Delta employee who told officers that she saw Byrne allegedly grabbed the victim's breast and described it as, quote, pushing her on her breast. If you have corroboration. Sure. Then you're matching the elements under Utah law of the sexual assault. But in terms of an assault for it to be a higher level assault, for a felony or something else, they don't

have that because there's no injury. And in the context of what was happening, you know, if we talk about sexual battery cases, it's not usually during an altercation, it's during something very nefarious. Not saying that this is, it shouldn't be taken seriously, but if it is happening during the course of an altercation, a physical conflict, is intent matter like where she was trying to do it or what she was trying to do? Does it matter the chaos of the event at all? So the intent is implied from the action itself for purposes of a sexual battery. You just need to have that physical contact. And so long as they could prove that there was physical contact, the intent is implied

that that physical contact was intentional. There does not need to be intent for it to be sexual. It becomes sexual due to the nature of the body part. Now, police, they repeatedly point to intoxication as a central issue in this. And in the report, officers write that when they located Cody Sierra Marie Byrne in the terminal, quote. Her speech was slurred and she had slack facial features and appeared as if she had been drinking. After she was taken into custody, one officer noted, I was able to smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her person. She was unable to follow directions and had

difficulty communicating in an intelligible manner. Now, there's one thing from what the defendant here, Byrne allegedly said, you know, she had been drinking. But how important from a legal point of view are the officer's observations, are they trained to see this? Talk to me about that. So officers typically are trained to identify signs of intoxication. There's additional trainings for officers who do traffic stops, obviously. I don't know whether or not these officers had that additional training, but any normal human being can identify the smell of alcohol off of somebody's breath and can also identify when somebody is incoherent. What's important here, too, is it's documented on body camera. So it's not just what the officer is saying, but

they observed, we can all see it ourselves by watching that body camera, and she appears to not be sober. And remind us again what you think is going to happen ultimately with this kind of case? Ultimately, I think these are not high-stakes charges, and assuming, of course, she has no criminal record, I think she's going to be offered a plea deal to either some sort of a German incontemplation of dismissal or maybe a disorderly conduct, something with no jail time. Now, if she does have a lengthy history, then it's a completely different ballgame. Can she be banned from flying coming on Delta Airlines? I mean, how's that work?

Well, that's not a criminal type of sanction. A Delta or any other airline carrier is a private carrier and they can deny any passenger from flying, right? They don't need to sell their service to whoever they don't want to sell it to. I would not be surprised if they impose a lifetime ban on her and they would be very well in their right to do so. We talked about, maybe the lack of evidence of an injury. If you're a defense attorney and she's like, I want to fight this. I want to fight this to the end. Anything from that body cam, anything from what you've seen in this case, there would be avenues to explore from a defense perspective? Well, the one thing is we don't know where these airline employees live. Sometimes we have airline employees who

are traveling and are not always based in the same city where they were working that day. And the prosecution may have a difficult time obtaining these witnesses and having them available locally in Salt Lake City where these charges stem from for trial, for hearings, for this case to move forward. And any time a witness is not available, the case dies. So the crucial piece here is having those witnesses be available and perhaps an effective strategy for the defense really is to drag this out and delay

until these witnesses maybe change their mind, decide not to cooperate, or are geographically just not interested in coming back. coming back. By the way, you were a prosecutor in Alaska, right? Correct. She was trying to board a flight at the nearer the Alaska Airlines terminal. Did you find that interesting? Like, after everything that happened, she's detained, she's arrested, seemingly trying to book another flight. Well, she was trying to go to Portland. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Delta wasn't letting her fly anymore. She's on a mission to get back to Portland. I don't think she's trying to flee or abscond. No, no. I think she's just trying to get to Portland. All right, interesting

case. Florina, thank you for taking time. It was great to have you here. here in studio. Always love having you here. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. All right everybody, that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. crime series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.