Flight Attendant Steven Slater slides into celebrity status
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JetBlue attendant
Steven Slater
emerges
From jail,
basks in new
status as celebrity.
By Nancy Dillon.
Oren Yaniv, Kevin Deutsch
and Rich Schapiro.
_______August 10th, 2010
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
If you were on JetBlue Flight 1052,
or if you know the passenger who
fought with the feisty flight attendant,
we’d love to hear from you.
was walking on air as he emerged
from jail Tuesday night as
a folk hero.
“I knew there was a brouhaha
about this, but while I was on the
inside I didn’t realize how much
attention it got,”
said Slater,
wearing the same T-shirt and
plaid shorts he had on when
arrested a day earlier.
“I think something about
this resonated with people.
The outpouring of support
is very appreciated.
I’m overwhelmed,
very thankful,”
Slater said after being
released from the Vernon C. Bain
after posting $2,500 bail.
Slater,
38,
was transformed into a folk hero
after he cursed out a nasty passenger
over a plane intercom, grabbed
some
beer and fled down an emergency
“It’s been a good time,”
a beaming Slater said,
as employees leavin
g
the lockup shouted,
“You’re a hero” and
“You’re a celebrity.”
Relishing in his cult status,
Slater even joked about his
short stay in the slammer.
“I feel tired, I feel about how
I did when that suitcase fell
on me.”
Then he pointed to cuts and bruises
on his forehead that he called
“aviation-related.”
But Slater’s flight to freedom
hit a little turbulence.
Freaked out by the media horde
following his livery car,
Slater’s driver returned him to
the jail after a 10-minute ride.
“The food was just too good,”
Slater deadpanned about
why he returned.
A lot of people agree that
Slater didn’t commit a crime,
and that includes his mother,
his lawyer –
and about half the world.
“I can understand why he snapped.
I would have snapped,
too,”
.
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her son pleaded not guilty
to criminal charges.
“I think he just had a
very small meltdown,
and I think he deserved to
be able to have that meltdown.”
And she isn’t the only one.
“I lost patience after a female
passenger had an argument with
another passenger and then opened
the bin door,
hitting me on the head
without apologizing,”
Slater told cops.
In his announcement to
passengers on the flight out of
Slater referred to the woman
as “the f—–g a–hole that
told me to f–k off.”
He then declared,
“I’ve had it.
That’s it,”
witnesses said.
Slater’s Legal Aid lawyer,
said his client was trying to defuse
a testy situation when the passenger,
who has not been identified,
started giving him hell
after the plane landed.
“He was trying to do his best
in providing safety and you
have rudeness and lack of
courtesy among the traveling
public,”
Turman said.
“The woman was outraged
and cursed him out a great deal.
At that point,
I think,
he just wanted to avoid
conflict with her.”
Through his lawyer,
Slater pleaded not guilty
to criminal mischief,
reckless endangerment
and trespassing charges.
Authorities said Slater
endangered jetBlue employees
under the aircraft when he activated
the emergency slide,
which costs more than
$25,000 to replace.
JetBlue suspended Slater even
money for his legal defense and
demanding he get his job back.
He has quickly become
a global sensation.
posing on planes –
hit the Internet.
His ex-wife,
married to him in the ’90s,
also came out of the woodwork.
neighborhood where Slater grew
up and his mother still lives,
neighbors were shocked by
his newfound notoriety.
“I’ve never seen any display
of that kind of conduct before,
so I have to believe to some
extent there must have been
some severe provocation,”
who lives across the street.
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