Alaska Airlines Gate Agent Recounts Attack

An Alaska Airlines customer service agent, Jill Lopotosky, was assaulted by a passenger in August of 2020 but is reportedly still suffering the consequences of the attack. The attack occurred at the gate for a flight at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It knocked Lopotosky over and she lost consciousness. She says she has been in pain since the attack which “partially dislocated” her shoulder and left her with headaches, blurred vision and nausea preventing her from driving. Lopotsky says her attacker, 47-year-old Mark Alan Hicks, approached without a face mask and was told one was required for the flight. He left and later returned wearing the mask but also drunk. “Then the next thing I knew, he came at me. Apparently, my coworker said I was knocked out for a short time because when I woke up, by then he was already going out the door,” Lopotosky said in a local news interview. Hicks, of Folsom, California, skipped his arraignment and is now wanted on a felony warrant.