No More Blue Skies
Steven Slater, the infamous Jet Blue flight attendant that was fed up with his job, spent the day in a New York courtroom Tuesday, September 7, 2010.
On August 9, 2010, Slater was attending to passengers on a flight as normal. A woman on his flight allegedly hit Slater on the head with her bag, and then refused to apologize. Slater believed that her actions were malicious and so he retaliated.
Slater allegedly cursed out the woman over the airline’s intercom system. Then he grabbed two beers and opened the emergency exit. He told the airline he was quitting his job and then slid down the emergency slide.
For his rough day at work, Slater is being charged with reckless endangerment in the first degree, and criminal mischief in the second degree.
The main basis for the reckless endangerment charge is that Slater opened the emergency exit slide. The inflation of the slide could have resulted in enough intense pressure to kill or harm the ground crew. According to New York laws, disregard for human life or grave risk of death to another person can result in a charge of reckless endangerment in the first degree.
Also in New York, the law states that the intentional damaging of property where the damage exceeds $1500 is considered criminal mischief in the second degree. Slater’s deployment from the emergency exit slide exceeded the $1500 in damages to the aircraft.
In New York, each charge could result in up to seven years in prison totaling fourteen years. This could mean that Steven Slater will not see many blue skies in the near future.
