Melvin Townsend, who former boxer Mike Tyson repeatedly punched on an airplane in 2022, is seeking a $450,000 “pre-litigation settlement demand” for “injuries and damages” sustained during the incident, according to Josh Kosman and Olivia Land of the New York Post.
The demand was sent to Tyson’s attorney, Alex Spiro, by Townsend’s attorney, Jake Jondle, who noted that “immediately after the incident, Mr. Townsend had a severe headache and neck pain” and is “still suffering with the effects of the assault to this day.”
Jondle also claimed that his client was unable to seek medical attention because he lacked insurance at the time, and that he had lost several jobs as a result of the “unfortunate notoriety he experienced” after the video of the fight went viral on social media.
“As a former undisputed heavyweight champion, the potential to cause severe injuries to another person goes without question,” Jondle continued. “There were several other remedies available to Mr. Mike Tyson, but he chose physical violence.”
Mike Tyson rejects settlement, and blames Townsend; no charges filed in 2022 incident
Spiro stated that there would be no settlement payout and called Jondle’s letter a “shakedown.”
In May 2022, the San Mateo County (California) District Attorney’s Office declined to press charges against Tyson in the incident.
“We have reviewed the police reports of the San Francisco Police Department and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office and have viewed the various videos collected by law enforcement from others on the airplane,” District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told reporters. “Our decision is that we will not file any charges against Mr. Tyson based on the circumstances surrounding the confrontation.”
“These include the conduct of the victim leading up to the incident, the interaction between Mr. Mike Tyson and the victim, as well as the requests of both the victim and Mr. Tyson that no charges be filed in this case,” he continued. At the time, a Tyson spokesperson stated that Townsend was “aggressive” and “began harassing him and threw a water bottle at him.”
Mike Tyson later admitted to Jondle in his letter to Spiro that he should not have physically attacked Townsend during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in June 2022.
“I’m usually good at these things,” Mike Tyson told Kimmel (h/t Mike Heck of MMA Fighting). “I guess it was just his number. But I was wrong. That never should’ve happened, that’s me back in my primitive childhood stages. I shouldn’t have done that, but I was irritated, tired, high, pissed off, yeah. S–t happens.”
