Another passenger accuses the flight attendant of escalating the dispute:

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-...pect-arrested/

If true, it's no excuse. The proper response to someone abusing his authority is to comply, then make your complaint later. Starting a fight ends badly for you.

In my thousand plus flights on Southwest I've never seen any confrontation between a flight attendant and a passenger. But requiring FA's to act as enforcers for masks that some people don't want to wear has made the job more difficult than it already was. If masks are mandated in-flight beyond 2021 these incidents will proliferate. The union should consider advocating an end to the mandate purely on this basis. Protecting FA's against passenger assault is as important as protecting them from the virus.