The father-of-three whose family was accosted by an unhinged woman on a United Airlines shuttle has revealed her hateful remarks started mid-flight.
Renowned photographer Pervez Taufiq told DailyMail.com he was traveling with his wife and their three children from Mexico to Los Angeles when the horrific altercation began.
The family got one free business upgrade for their flight and decided to give it to their 11-year-old son.
At one point Taufiq, seated three rows behind his child, went up to check on him and that is when he first interacted with the woman.
‘I was there maybe three seconds, and some lady comes up from behind me who’s coming from the bathroom and she says, «Can I get to my seat?» And I’m like «yes, of course» and I moved aside,’ he said.
‘She gets into her seat and she’s muttering under her breath. I didn’t think anything of it at the time.’
After the plane landed and they were being ushered to the shuttle, Taufiq’s son revealed the woman asked him uncomfortable questions during the flight.
‘When we left the plane my son starts telling me, «Hey, so that lady was asking me are you Indian and I said yes, and then she asked me if I’m from New Delhi and I said no, I’m from Bombay,»‘ Taufiq said.
Pervez Taufiq told DailyMail.com he was traveling with his wife and their three children when they were attacked by the unhinged woman
Taufiq said she started asking his son uncomfortable questions during the flight and the situation escalated when she told his kids to ‘shut up’ on the shuttle
‘I was like why would she ask you if you’re Indian, what a weird thing for someone who doesn’t know you to even ask. It was bizarre.’
Once they were on the shuttle the father said the woman continued to harass his children and spew vile attacks.
‘We walked onto the bus and literally my son – the little guy – goes «Oh my god! That’s a plane!» and my middle child’s like, «Yeah, is that your favorite plane?» They’re both obsessed with planes,’ Taufiq said.
‘Within maybe a second of that this lady says «shut up, just shut up.» That’s when I lost it.’
The woman wearing a green striped shirt stuck both her middle fingers up at Taufiq as he started to film the altercation.
‘Your family is from India, you have no respect for the rules, you think you can push everyone… that’s what you think you are. You guys are f*****g crazy,’ she said.
Taufiq questioned her, ‘Indian people are crazy? You told me to have some more curry, right?’
‘I’m going to record your f******g tandoori a**… your tandoori stinky a**,’ the woman said.
Taufiq said the most upsetting part of the experience was that other people on the shuttle remained quite as she was attacking them
A United employee came on the shuttle and started talking to the woman as other riders shouted asking her to take the woman off the bus
Taufiq told DailyMail.com, ‘What a bizarre thing for her to film me as she is racial lambasting me.’
He said the most upsetting part of the experience was that other people on the shuttle remained quite as she was attacking them.
‘The real travesty is that nobody really helped us except for one guy,’ Taufiq said.
‘Everyone was super duper quiet. Nobody said anything until they asked about her leaving, and then one guy behind us said something. He was the only guy. That was the real thing that upset me to be honest, we felt so alone. My wife and I and our three kids getting beat up by this lady and all this nonsense.
‘We travel all over the world, we hit like 34 countries in the year, and we never, nobody ever gives us h**l like this so it was a very unusual thing. It was an out-of-body kind of experience.’
Eventually, a United employee came on the shuttle and started talking to the woman as other riders shouted asking her to take the woman off the bus.
Taufiq said they do not know what happened to her and United won’t tell them, but the airline suggested they take it up with the FBI.
‘I had gone to the bathroom for a second they were talking to my wife, and they were saying like, «Oh, they were going to arrest her and there were five cops there and that they’re going to put her on the no fly list.»
Taufiq said they do not know what happened to her and United won’t tell them, but the airline suggested they take it up with the FBI
He said when they were at baggage claim his wife was talking to authorities and there appeared to be police looking for her
‘But then I tried calling them just to see what had happened, but we don’t know. They can’t tell us.
‘We’re going to file something with the FBI, because realistically it started in the air and technically that’s their space. That’s what the United People basically told us.’
DailyMail.com has contacted United Airlines and the LAX Airport Police for comment.
