A rebel flight attendant who told off defiant passengers and grabbed a beer as he made a dramatic escape from a JetBlue aircraft via the emergency chute has been hit with criminal charges.
Steven Slater, 38, has been arraigned on reckless endangerment charges that could bring him seven years in jail if convicted
Slater appeared before Queens Criminal Court Judge Mary O'Donoghue on charges of first and second degree reckless endangerment, second and fourth degree criminal mischief and third degree criminal trespass.
He was ordered to be held on $US2,500 bail and to return to court on September 7. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted on all counts.
Slater was working a Jet Blue flight from Pittsburgh to New York that had just landed when he became entangled in a spat with a passenger.
The steward told passengers to remain seated upon landing. But when a passenger started collecting belongings from the overhead bin, disregarding the instructions, Slater tried to stop the passenger but was hit in the head by the luggage bin and became irate.
He asked for an apology, but instead was cursed at by the cranky passenger.
The frustrated steward grabbed the public address system and swore at the passengers before activating the inflatable evacuation slide.
He launched himself off the plane, ran to the employee parking lot, and left the airport in a car he parked there.
The attendant snatched beer from the galley before jumping on the slide.
His escape was fleeting - police arrested Mr Slater shortly after at his home nearby in Queens
Supporters have been rallying around the angry man on the social networking site Facebook.
No-one was injured in the incident
Sunny weekend heading our way in Sydney even if we are still hunkered down in hoodies and heaters but it's the weekend so I'm not complaining. For now, life's good and I'm savouring every moment. Have a fabulicious weekend poppets.
Mom wanted to know if he was any kind of relation..considering how common the names is....
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not one to try to break up a cat fight...! MIAOW!!!
SOOO glad life is good. that's terrific.
ReplyDeletei believe it would be all those chiding him onto celebrity...
ReplyDeleteso many people are divided o this guy - hard to believe.
ReplyDeletehow's was first week?I'm in my second and drowig
Having worked most of my adult life in retail and having to deal with clueless idiots every day for 30 years, I can sympathize with the guy. But launching the emergency slide was too much; at that point he put people in physical danger, and that's just a big no-no. If he'd left it at the "screw you, I've had enough and I quit" speech over the intercom he'd still be my hero, but launching the slide turns him into a fuckwit.
ReplyDeleteHmmn... much to ponder about this one. Imagine if every service personnel reacted like this guy. Let's say a doctor who is curse or grabbed by a patient. What about the policeman having to deal with a belligerent drunk, or a teacher upset at a student... the list is endless. That is why there is such a thing as professionalism and standards of conduct. If we react like this man,what will happen. On second thought, perhaps this is what customers want? So I hope those who rejoice and applaud him will have a taste of this service type. It's deplorable. Service people need vacation or take a break. Do not take their frustration on customers, especially unarmed customers.
ReplyDeleteIt would be ridiculous to put him in jail just for that. Don't we have enough real criminals?
ReplyDeletelol... i guess after doing it for 28 years, he IS entitle to blow his stack every now'n agin ;) lol
ReplyDeleteInstead of over-reacting in such a crazy fashion, he should have tipped off the airport authorities to caution the passenger for reckless endangerment. All I can assume is, he'd had a day of bolshy passengers, he'd had trouble with his girlfriend, his landlord was evicting him, and he finally flipped. Well, something like that.
ReplyDeleteFlyday fickwitt indeed!lol
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend too!:)
O I love that story. Especially the way he grabbed a beer before unleashing the emergency chute ~ hahar!
ReplyDeleteHmn...very suspicious! Now news reports and interviews from passengers of the flight said that Mr. Slater was the one who instigated the problem. In fact several passengers report that he was rude to them before the incident. The interviews indicate that this man seemed disturbed, in my opinion.
ReplyDeletehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704216804575423932483801118.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_newyork
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/08/12/slater-calls-media-attention-a-bit-much/
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/jetblue_passenger_says_flight_attendant_qnwwZCFAjrE16FirMpMCUO
I hope they clear this matter and if this man really did something inappropriate, he should be relieved of his duties. Being a flight steward is a big responsibility and if you cannot rely or depend on them being stable, that just makes flying even more uncomfortable and not enjoyable at all than it already is.
The emergency slide did it for me. Full marks for going out with a bang. However what I would have really preferred is him throwing on the parachute and leaping out with a final "see yarl in hell" scenerio. It would have been great, until he hit the concrete below which would have been pretty quick as the plane had actually landed and he might have twisted an ankle or something.
ReplyDelete"no-one was injured"?
ReplyDeleteThe flight attendant was injured, hit on the head by the luggage bin.
Yes, the passenger was wrong and deserved to be told off, but as a customer service person, the flight attendant is not the one to do it. Instead he should file a complaint and let the system deal with any passenger wrongdoings. not fair as in this case the passenger gets away with his wrongful behaviour.
As a checkout operator, there's not many times I'd like to berate a customer, but if a customer is rude or obnoxious, we are required to keep calm, and process his/her purchases without comment.It's all part of the service, the people skills we're all supposed to have.
So I can understand him getting irate, but he shouldn't have done what he did.
P.S. He could have called the Flight Captain to deal with the passenger.
ReplyDeleteApparently he has about 38,000 fans on a FB page set up specifically for him!
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of my job as a mortgage debt telephone collector in London in 91-92. On Deb's last day before heading for a round-the-world trip, she answered the phone and a got a full-on barrage from an angry client, furious that our company had dared send him a letter, leave a phone message etc about his unpaid mortgage. I could hear it all from across the desk.
Eventually he took a breath and she said, "Do you know who you're speaking to?"
No
"WELL FUCK OFF THEN!" and she slammed the phone down, grinning.
Of course he rang back up again to complain, but it was 1991 and he got whoever's line was free at the time and didn't know the name of the person he was complaining about so ended up handing up again. It was a beautiful event to behold.
I'm sure we've all had those moments.Many years ago,rounding up rowdy junior primary students at the end of the day, after a class clean-up, I asked them to come and sit at the front of the class, ready for dismissal. Instead of walking quietly as requested, one student did a cartwheel and dislocated the finger that I was pointing to the floor with. Very hard to say "Oh dear,you seem to have dislocated my finger, never mind". Dealing with people in large numbers, of any age, who have a complete disregard for instructions gets really tiring after 25-30 years. Unfortunately we don't have such spectacular escape chutes in in Junior Primary. The slippery-dip just doesn't cut it.
ReplyDeleteI've been following this story avidly. At first I thought he was a hero...but on reading more, I think he's s nutter, a drama queen, and a true fuckwit!
ReplyDeleteThe cops have now interviewed 40 people from the flight and not a single one corroborates the flight attendant's story. We fly Jet Blue all the time and I just keep thinking how terrified Hedgehog woud've been. I think the guy is a class A Asshole!
My two cents...
Great post!
P.s. I bet he screwed himself out of a great pension...
ReplyDeleteFlyday Fuckwit... yeah, that's about right!
ReplyDeleteI'd stand behind him. (Cause I wouldn't want to be standing in front of him;-)
ReplyDeletecriminal charges? f'goodness sake!
ReplyDeletehope you're having a fab weekend
At least he left in style.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.blackwatertown.wordpress.com
Love Kath's story! Hope you are having an excellent weekend.
ReplyDeleteThat airline guy was not really crazy
ReplyDeleteHe managed to grab a few beers before exiting the emerg. chute.
And maybe alcohol DID play a part in his behavior, not at ALL to be an excuse.
OH! before I forget, Palmetto and Cockroach--same thing...just like fiddle and violin. OK? Thanks for coming by!
PEACE,
Steve
I wonder if the standing passenger's insurance would be void if by chance the plane had an accident while on the ground? The rules are there for the health and safety of all traveller's, so why do so many choose to ignore them?
ReplyDeleteHope the weekend was good.
I feel for the flight attendant. Although he didn't act as a grown-up, but you can't expect wonders from mere human beings. Or did I mean male human beings? No, I'm sure I meant mere ;-) Anyway, I can imagine that it's very difficult to always have to stay polite when people behave like morons. No wonder he snapped. I'd have thrown the passenger from the plane. Without the slide ;-)
ReplyDelete"Hunkered down" sounds so American... I was going to buy a novel by Jean M Auel (or one of her erstwhile copycats) back in the day, but I flicked through and came to a passage where a primaeval caveman "hunkered down to the stream" - akh! - and that spoilt the ancient atmosphere so much I went for Jeffrey Archer instead!
ReplyDeletePS you weren't meant to notice that sleeping hammy was in fact DEAD!!
It was just meant to be a hamster who enjoys bedding down on a concrete highway under the full glare of the midday sun! (How else would the goblin catch him??)
ReplyDeleteActually, maybe hammy was on ketamine...?! After all they say that's a veterinary anaesthetic.
Actually the hammy lying across the kitchen scales may well have been on ketamine. How else they could persuade a (presumably living) wild animal to do that I have no idea ...
I can understand his frustration having seen airline staff having to deal with some really impossible passengers on landings, but I think he kinda went overboard there...
ReplyDelete