A “disruptive” passenger sent an airline employee at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to the hospital and ended up in jail earlier this week.

The California man was waiting to board an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Alaska on Monday afternoon, according to an airline spokesperson. He had previously approached the gate and then walked away after an airline gate agent told him he needed to put on a mask, local TV station KIRO reported.

A “disruptive” passenger sent an airline employee at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to the hospital and ended up in jail Monday. (Don Wilson/Port of Seattle)

Alaska Airlines has been requiring all passengers to wear face masks as one of its coronavirus safety precautions.

LUFTHANSA REQUIRING NEGATIVE CORONAIRUS TEST TO FLY WITHOUT A MASK

The man returned to the gate wearing a mask. But airline staff decided he was too intoxicated to fly, according to the report.

Alaska Airlines has been requiring all passengers to wear face masks as one of its coronavirus safety precautions. (Don Wilson/Port of Seattle)

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Soon after, he and two other people “became highly disruptive,” the airline spokesperson said, and the man knocked a female gate agent to the ground. The passenger then pushed past and over the woman toward the jet bridge to the plane, according to an airport representative.

The number of passengers traveling each day is down significantly compared to a year ago because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Don Wilson/Port of Seattle)

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The gate agent was taken to the hospital for evaluation and was recovering at home as of Wednesday, an airline spokesperson confirmed.

A representative for the airport said police arrested the disruptive passenger, who was charged with fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor.

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As a result of the pandemic, meanwhile, the number of airline passengers traveling each day is down significantly compared to the same time period a year ago. On Tuesday, the TSA counted 523,186 travelers who passed through its security checkpoints; exactly one year earlier, there were more than 2 million travelers.