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JetBlue attendant vents on passengers
NEW YORK, After jawing with a man upon landing in New York Monday, a JetBlue attendant vented over the plane's intercom, took a beer and slid down the emergency chute.
The New York Times reported the flight attendant, identified as Steven Slater, 38, ran across the tarmac and left Kennedy International Airport. He was arrested later at his home in New York.
A neighbor, Curt Krakowski, told the Times Slater "had a smile on his face when the cops brought him out, like, 'Yeah, big deal.'"
The likely career-ending incident started when a passenger got up to grab his luggage too soon after Flight 1052 landed after arriving from Pittsburgh, an unnamed law enforcement official told the Times. After the passenger swore at him, Slater allegedly responded in kind, then got on the plane's intercom and unleashed some more obscenities, concluding "It's been great!"
He paused to pick up a beer from a beverage cart before pulling the emergency chute lever, slid down to the ground, sprinted away to the employee parking lot and drove off.
The Times said he was charged with felony counts of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.
"When they hit that emergency chute, it drops down quickly within seconds," a law enforcement official said. "If someone was on the ground and it came down without warning, someone could be injured or killed."
The airline said it was cooperating with federal and local officials to investigate the matter.
The Times reported people who knew Slater said he had recently been caring for his dying mother and had done the same for his father. Both parents had worked in the airline industry, his other as a flight attendant and his father as a pilot.
NEW YORK, After jawing with a man upon landing in New York Monday, a JetBlue attendant vented over the plane's intercom, took a beer and slid down the emergency chute.
The New York Times reported the flight attendant, identified as Steven Slater, 38, ran across the tarmac and left Kennedy International Airport. He was arrested later at his home in New York.
A neighbor, Curt Krakowski, told the Times Slater "had a smile on his face when the cops brought him out, like, 'Yeah, big deal.'"
The likely career-ending incident started when a passenger got up to grab his luggage too soon after Flight 1052 landed after arriving from Pittsburgh, an unnamed law enforcement official told the Times. After the passenger swore at him, Slater allegedly responded in kind, then got on the plane's intercom and unleashed some more obscenities, concluding "It's been great!"
He paused to pick up a beer from a beverage cart before pulling the emergency chute lever, slid down to the ground, sprinted away to the employee parking lot and drove off.
The Times said he was charged with felony counts of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.
"When they hit that emergency chute, it drops down quickly within seconds," a law enforcement official said. "If someone was on the ground and it came down without warning, someone could be injured or killed."
The airline said it was cooperating with federal and local officials to investigate the matter.
The Times reported people who knew Slater said he had recently been caring for his dying mother and had done the same for his father. Both parents had worked in the airline industry, his other as a flight attendant and his father as a pilot.