A flight attendant has been arrested after he got into an argument with a passenger, swore over the plane's loud speaker, grabbed a beer from the galley, deployed an emergency exit slide and fled the plane, authorities say.
JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater, 39, remains in custody after the incident, which happened while the plane was arriving at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport on Monday.
Slater was working on JetBlue Flight 1052 from Pittsburgh when he got into an argument with the passenger, who was pulling down baggage from an overhead bin, the Port Authority said.
The luggage apparently struck the attendant in the head, and he asked for an apology, but the passenger refused, the agency said.
As the plane was landing, Slater got on the public-address system and swore at the passenger, the Port Authority said.
He then grabbed at least one beer, activated the slide, slid down and went to his car, it said.
Port Authority police were notified about 25 minutes later.
Slater was arrested at his nearby home in the Belle Harbor section of Queens by Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police on charges of criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing.
He remained in custody on Monday night.
JetBlue Airways Corp said in a statement that it was working with the Federal Aviation Administration and Port Authority police to investigate the matter.
It said the safety of its customers and crew members was never at risk.
JetBlue would not say how long Slater had been employed by the company.
Front page
RSS Feed