El Paso Native Is Hero Who Defended Crying Mother in Airline Video

The man who jumped to the defense of a crying mother on an American Airlines flight has been identified as a El Paso native.

A different airline is now in the news for a viral video showing staff treating a customer badly. An American Airlines employee on Flight 591 from San Francisco to Dallas was shown arguing with several customers after he forcefully grabbed a stroller from a young mother. In the video, an man is seen standing up for the crying mother and demanding the flight attendant's name.

That man has now been identified and turns out, he is an El Paso native.

Tony Fierro is a 42 year-old insurance agency president and Texas church deacon. According to the El Paso Times, he's also a graduate of Coronado High School. When talking to WFAA, Fierro said that the situation fired him up,

"A baby almost got hurt. That's what just fired me up, so that was it. I don't want to make a big deal about it."

In the video, you can hear Fierro telling the person next to him "no, I’m not going to just sit here and watch this” and proceeds to go to the front of the plane to get the flight attendant's name. He also told the flight attendant "you do that to me and I'll knock you out." The flight attendant tells Fierro to "stay out of this," and Fierro proceeds to get out of his seat to confront the attendant. The flight attendant repeatedly tells Fierro to "hit" him and to "bring it on." At the end of the video you can hear Fierro telling the flight attendant “maybe you’ll get videotaped too and be all over the news.”

Tony Fierro is a deacon at his church and is involved in several different charities including a charity to bring clean water to Liberia. He also is a supporter of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra's Tocando Music Project. The project is an after-school music education program.