Flight attendant charged with opening emergency evacuation chute
Okay. He triggered the emergency escape chute. Did he lean on a button by accident? Carry a joke too far? No, he actually used the chute - to escape the plane!New York (CNN) -- Police arrested a flight attendant Monday suspected of triggering an emergency escape chute on a plane parked at a JFK Airport terminal, a spokeswoman for the district attorney said.
Steven Slater was arrested at his home and charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and criminal trespass, said Helen Peterson at the Queens District Attorney's Office.
Slater picked up the intercom and used expletives directed at the passengers, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. It is not clear exactly what was said on the intercom. The source said that when the plane at stopped at the gate, Slater then grabbed some beer from the beverage cart before deploying the emergency slide and using it to leave the plane.
On the one hand, I think we've all had an experience or two with the general public where public harassment, followed by free beer, would have been the best possible outcome. On the other hand, though, not at the expense of our jobs... Or becoming felonies:
Are you freakin' kidding me? "Second degree criminal mischief" is a FELONY that can get you up to seven years in jail? That's twice as long as MA holds child rapists, and half as long as MA holds convicted cop-killers. The reckless endangerment I can kinda see - it's tough to tell from the story if the chute was deployed when the plane was still in motion or not; if the deployment could have caused harm - say, if the plane were moving and hit something because of the extended chute - then it's warranted; otherwise, there is no reason for this to be a felony.Peterson said the second degree criminal mischief and first degree reckless endangerment charges are felonies that could land Slater in jail for up to seven years.
Now, that said, if Jet Blue wanted to go after this jamoke for restitution, I'm all for that. I'm guessing that the emergency chutes are essentially large, more expensive air bags (which cost big buck$ to replace from what I remember); why not make him pay damages and be done with it? He's already thrown away any chance of ever working as a flight attendant again; fine him, garnish his salary until all fines are paid off, and leave it at that. Hitting him with a felony and throwing him in jail ("Hey, what are you in for?" "I deployed the emergency chute on a Jet Blue flight" "WARDEN! Get me away from this lunatic!") only cheapens the meaning of "felony" and adds to the growing disrespect towards our "justice" system.
And part of me is compelled to admit that I'd pay a tidy sum for the security camera footage of the exchange...
That is all.
Link to similar story sent by PISSED, who thought I needed the larf...
10 comments:
I'll give two to one odds the schmuck brings suit against the airline for on the job harassment, with willful ignorance on their part.
I'll give even money he wins, too.
Sitting right there on the group W bench with mother rapers and father stabbers. Father rapers right there on the bench next to me, and the meanest ugliest nastiest father raper of them all asks "kid, what were you arrested for". And I said 'criminal mischief', and they all moved away from me on the bench.... 'and creating a nuisance' And they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the bench talking about crime, mother stabbing, father raping, all kinds of groovy things.
The way I heard it was a female passenger refused to follow his instructions (a federal offense I believe), called him a M.F., and either accidentally or on purpose whacked him in the head with her bags (that she was getting out of the overhead compartment when she was supposed to be sitting down).
Then he lost it, blessed out the rest of the passengers using the PA, grabbed the beer, pulled the chute and took it on the lam.
If you're going to go, go all the way and he didn't hurt anybody on his way out.
It doesn't excuse his actions, but contextualizes them a bit.
Better yet, the PoPo arrested him with the help of a SWAT team and a Police Helicopter!
I smell a budget justification!
Is is most likey being charged as a felony due to the cost of refurbishing and repacking the chute. It's well into five figures of cost.
Ironically, even if they just charged him with vandalism (for deploying the chute unnecessarily), the cost of repairing/replacing the chute would most likely make it a felony, anyway. I don't know about New York, but the threshold here in Virginia is only $200.
Unbelievable... but then again, it IS Jet Blue...
Those chutes are about 40K bucks or more. and it's a bit of work to replace, reinstall the trim and oh yes, paperwork.
However, it is a federal felony to interfere with the safe conduct of an
aircraft. deploying a chute is more or less declaring an emergency with ramifications. He did a few bad things.
Now the other person a passenger is
also liable for trouble if they decide
to follow up. It is a interference with flight crew item and also a bad thing. In the past that would have been an arrest at the gate.
Eck!
Gah, I hate JetBlue. I'm glad I never did that exit routine, though.
I spent some serious time on hands and knees baby sitting a passenger who passed out from dehydration, and they wouldn't give me a diet soda, but did make me document that I had first responder training before I could leave for my connecting flight.
I hope this guy gets a fine to prevent copycats, and then gets a movie deal.
FWIW: Under New York criminal law, second-degree criminal mischief is defined as damaging another person's property, where the amount of the damages exceeds $1500. It's a class D felony, and the maximum sentence is indeed 7 years.
Post a Comment