“Three police officers were waiting for me and I just thought: ‘What?'”

Salt-N-Pepa member Sandra “Pepa” Denton detailed an incident that occurred earlier this week in which she was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight, saying she was surprised and confused by it.

The 59-year-old rapper spoke to TMZ in detail about the sequence of events on Monday as she attempted to travel from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Nashville, Tennessee.

The Kingston, Jamaica-born musician, who previously documented a video of the aftermath of the incident on her Instagram account, told the outlet that she paid for an extra seat due to a knee injury she has, but airline staff tried to get her to give up the seat.

“I got on the plane and I had my brace with me, but I wasn’t wearing it at that moment,” she said. “I took it out of my bag to put it on, stretched out my legs, and then a flight attendant came and tried to give me my seat.”

Denton said she tried to explain to the flight attendant that she had purchased the extra seat specifically to ease any potential pain from her injury.

“I said, ‘Oh no, that seat is free, I have that seat too,’ and he said, ‘No you don’t, we’re going to give that seat away,’ and I said, ‘No you don’t, because that’s what I’ve always done,” Denton said. “I always bought two seats when I need them so my leg would have more legroom because of my knee injury.”

Denton said the flight attendant later apologized to her and told her she could keep the seat, and she thanked him.

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Denton said she thought the matter was settled until she was approached on the crowded plane by another traveler who wanted to take the extra seat she had purchased to rest her leg.

“The next thing I know, a man comes – mind you, the plane is completely full, it has 143 seats, the only free seat was next to me – and this man gets on the plane,” Denton said.

Denton said the airline allowed the traveler to approach her on the plane, putting her in an uncomfortable position, because the man said he needed the seat to attend a funeral and asked for the extra seat.

“And I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is not happening to me because I really need this space,'” Denton said. “And I stood up and said to the gentleman, ‘Are you going to a funeral? You have to swear to me and tell me the truth. Are you going to a funeral? Look me in the eyes.'”

Denton said the man “couldn’t do it” because “his lip was trembling as if he wanted to say something, but he didn’t want to say, ‘I’m telling the truth.'”

“So I said, ‘Then I won’t give you my seat and you’ll be uncomfortable if you lie.'”

Denton said that following the exchange, a flight attendant told her, “Grab your things, you’re getting off,” which shocked her.

When asked if there had been an argument, Denton said she could not understand how the situation could have escalated to the point where she was thrown off the plane.

“That’s what I’m saying – I even gave him the seat and everything else,” Denton said. “And why is he even on the plane if the plane is already completely full at that point? Except for my seat.”

Denton said she was surprised when police were waiting for her after she got off the plane.

“When I got off the plane, sad, there were three police officers waiting for me and I just thought, ‘What?’ she said. “And I turned around and said, ‘This is for me?’ They escorted me out of the airport.”

Another passenger on the flight named Shannon McCormack told the outlet that at no point did she see Denton arguing with anyone until she was kicked off the plane.

McCormack said a flight attendant became upset when Denton expressed her intention to record the incident, and another flight attendant told her, “You, Denton, get out!”

Southwest told TMZ that Denton was refunded the $2,500 she paid for the flight and that police were called because she did not have a valid ticket at the time and it is policy for police to escort people without a valid ticket from the terminal.

Denton was thrown off the plane because she did not follow the instructions of a crew member, Southwest told the news agency, but did not elaborate on what she had ignored.

Denton said she was calm when she got off the plane, which McCormack said was true.

Denton posted a video on Instagram on Monday that appears to show the aftermath of the altercation after she had already left the plane.

In the video of her talking to staff, she claimed the problem started when one of the staff asked her about her two seats.

Denton also claimed that another man asked for her seat – and apparently got it after she was escorted off the plane.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Southwest said: “Our flight crews are responsible for the safety and comfort of all passengers in the cabin. With that in mind, they denied the customer boarding and her ticket was refunded.”

A lawyer for Denton declined to comment.

The musician took the flight to a meeting in Nashville and, according to TMZ, often chooses the same flight because she says it is the only direct flight from Vegas to the music-oriented city.

She said she decided to purchase two seats due to a leg injury sustained in a car accident in 2018 and also had a receptionist take her to the aircraft door in a wheelchair.

Southwest is known for allowing its passengers to select their seats on the plane, rather than forcing customers to select a seat in advance and charging extra for less uncomfortable seats, as is the case with most other airlines.

Denton claims she was approached by a man who can be seen in her video talking to her about why she had two seats.

In the video, he claimed he asked her because he didn’t see a cast or braces, even though she had braces with her and allegedly put them on after the conversation.

It is unclear whether the employee was informed that Denton had purchased tickets for two seats, or whether he may have been under the impression that she was using a second seat without paying for it due to a supposed medical condition.

However, he points out in the video that Southwest has a policy that allows tall customers to get a second seat in some cases. However, he told Denton that she was not “invading” the seat next to her and therefore assumed that was not the reason she got a seat.

Why Denton was kicked off the plane after this initial encounter is not clear from the video. She says in the clip that a man asked about her seat, and then the employee who first questioned her states that she was removed from the plane because she was filming during the flight.

Southwest did not respond to a question about its policy regarding filming interactions between passengers and flight crew.

Denton countered that she never filmed anything on the plane. She claimed that she only spoke to her assistant on the phone and only started filming once she got off the jet.

However, it did not appear that staff would reverse their decision, and he and another woman who Denton said was caught up in the commotion tried to get them to move out of the aisle to the jet because it was about to depart and the aisle would be moving.

Towards the end of the clip, she forcefully yells at the employee after pointing her camera towards the exit, but it is unclear if he touched her as she slowly walked away.

During the argument, Denton held up both of her tickets to the camera to prove that she had paid for both seats. However, Southwest has since refunded them.

The airline did not respond when asked if it had contacted Denton about the incident, but she told TMZ that she was considering possible legal action against the airline.

In her video, she mentioned a male passenger who asked her to give up her second seat.

Denton said she tried to explain to the man that she had the seat because of an injury, and other passengers then started arguing about whether or not she had to give up the seat after paying extra for it.

She claims that her assistant urged her to record the entire ordeal, although she claims she did not do so.

However, she was then told by staff that she had to leave the flight; according to her, no reason was given for the expulsion.

According to Denton, the man who claimed to need her second paid seat ultimately got it after she was kicked off the plane.

It is unclear what role the man played in her ejection, but the Salt-N-Pepa member also claimed that flight attendants tried to move her to an emergency exit row where she could not have sat because her injury would have prevented her from assisting with the evacuation in the event of an emergency.

She clarified that while she was able to reschedule the meeting she was traveling to in Nashville for, she had paid for the transfer from the airport to the plane and also lost the $500 she had paid for the car service at her destination.

However, Denton said Southwest refunded her the $2,500 she paid for her tickets.