QUEENS, NY—Flight attendant Steven Slater has made more than headlines with his outburst at unruly passengers; he’s made himself into a sort of public folk hero—but one that could face criminal charges.
Mr. Slater, a former JetBlue flight attendant was attempting to deal with a disgruntled passenger when he was struck over the head with a piece of luggage. The passenger refused to yield or apologize, and instead of telling the pilot of the fiasco, Mr. Slater chose to take to the plane’s public address system a give every passenger a piece of his mind. He then proclaimed, “It’s been great!” and deployed the emergency chute and slid down to the runway, with a couple of beers to go. The police found him in his home later that afternoon and placed him under arrest.
Forgive us for not calling him Robin Hood, but he certainly has captured the attention of media consumers in a big way by doing what we all feel like doing from time to time—telling someone to take this job and shove it. We hope this incident serves to remind passengers of the strain airline employee endure but certainly do not hope his example will be followed by other airline employees.
—Killswitch Politick
