NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A JetBlue flight attendant upset after an altercation with a passenger bolted from the plane by deploying and sliding down the inflatable emergency chute yesterday, police said.
The flight attendant, Steven Slater, was arrested at his home in the New York City borough of Queens after fleeing from John F. Kennedy International Airport, He will likely be charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief, a spokesman for the Port Authority police said.
Slater, who had quarreled with a passenger fiddling with his luggage after landing but before the plane came to a complete stop, swore over the public address before opening a door, inflating the chute and sliding down, police said.
The New York Daily News reported that he took over the intercom and called the passenger a 12-letter epithet beginning with m and then told everyone, “I’ve been in the business 28 years. I’ve had it. That’s it.”
