When the judge finally bangs his gavel on Chelsea Alston, the intoxicated traveler who led police on a low speed suitcase chase in April, she could be a guest of the gray bar hotel for an extended 10-year-stay. Driving a Samsonite while under the influence only warmed things up.
DUI on a suitcase
Chelsea Alston, a 32-year-old New York anarchist, had a really good time on her trip to Orlando, Florida and was simply trying to make her way home. When she rolled up to the Southwest Airlines check in gate at Orlando International Airport on a motorized suitcase, a police officer on a bicycle was already on her tail.
Airline staff declared the woman too intoxicated to board and the situation deteriorated rapidly.
She promised to behave if they poured her on the plane but they said no. “I don’t want no beef. I’m just trying to go home and enjoy myself.” She got verbally aggressive and insisted she only had “two drinks” before she got there. They still said no.
That’s when Orlando police Officer Andrew Mamone “informed Alston that her glassy eyes, inability to stand straight and the odor of alcohol on her were reasons for the airline to suspect she was too intoxicated to fly.” He was nice about it, offering to escort her and her suitcase “over to the terminal and sober up a little bit.” Then she could “get another flight.”
Ms. Alston, being a constituent of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and all, “cursed at the officer and waved her middle finger” as she rolled away on the suitcase. New Yorkers were once known for their “class.”
Well, Pluto’s not a planet anymore, either. After giving up and rolling away, the woman and her improvised scooter took off through the terminal a lot faster than the officer realized was possible.
That thing goes fast
“We’re going to have a bike pursuing a suitcase in a minute,” he radioed in. “Oh man, that thing kind of goes fast,” Mamone added as Alston tried to escape through a crowd of passengers, some of whom can be heard giggling at the unusual scene.
She had a little bit of a head start but the officer managed to catch up with her. The big problem was that she was on the wrong side of the security barricade.
Mamone intercepted the suitcase near the “people mover” tram and “ordered her to leave the secured area.” He offered to roll along with her. “I just need you to get on the other side of TSA [security checkpoint]. Follow me, and we’ll roll out together.” She “remained in the secure area for nearly 10 minutes.”
When he finally started to get testy and warn Alston, “she could be arrested for remaining in the secure area without a valid boarding pass,” she started spitting. That’s when the cuffs came out.
With help from backup, officers escorted Alston and her suitcase to a patrol car outside. Video shows they had to slide her along “on the terminal’s tile floor because police say she refused to walk.” While sitting in the back of the patrol car, Alston ripped apart the police vehicle’s fabric headliner and defecated in the seat, causing an estimated $1,200 in damage.
Charged with assault and battery on the police officer and causing more than $1,000 in damage to his patrol car, if convicted, “she faces up to five years in prison for each offense.”
