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Slater, JetBlue Part Ways


STEVE SLATER ALT X390 (FAIR) | ADVOCATE.COM

Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who exited the aircraft down an emergency chute after allegedly being harassed by a passenger, is no longer with the airline, a spokesperson confirmed Saturday.

The spokesperson said the separation occurred last week, but declined to elaborate on how Slater and Jet Blue parted ways.

Slater became something of an overnight working-class hero last month when he got fed up with a passenger, screamed obscenities over the loudspeaker, grabbed a beer, and triggered an inflatable emergency chute from a plane at a JFK Airport terminal in New York. Authorities arrested him at his home later that afternoon.

Slater was said to be coping with the health issues of his mother, who is battling cancer. A week after his arrest, Slater had more than 200,000 fans on his Facebook page.

JetBlue launched an internal investigation after the incident, and Slater was charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief — both felonies — and criminal trespass. If convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison.

Slater has a court appearance scheduled for Tuesday.

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Reader Comments
  • Name: Ben
    Date posted: 9/7/2010 2:41:09 PM
    Hometown: NY

    Comment:

    The idea of sending this man to prison for 7 years for what he did is outrageous. Even threatening it. If some punishment is required because he broke the law, fine, make him pay a fine, but prison? That is ridiculous.

  • Name: Tyler
    Date posted: 9/7/2010 12:25:34 PM
    Hometown: San Luis Obispo

    Comment:

    I kind of figured that his exit down the slide was him resigning. I thought that was the whole point of that.

  • Name: Greg
    Date posted: 9/7/2010 8:28:22 AM
    Hometown: Providence RI

    Comment:

    I remember him from JetBlue flights and he's a nice guy. I agree that if you work in service, retail etc., you "get" it. This seems somewhat about office people feeling superior to the peons.

  • Name: Dan
    Date posted: 9/6/2010 5:32:10 PM
    Hometown: Fort Lauderdale

    Comment:

    I think Steven Slater is a hero. He garnered 200,000 fans on Facebook because people in the service industry can PASSIONATELY relate to being abused and belittled. Too many people have the idea that they have a right to treat you like a doormat because they give you a little money. I'm just upset they didn't charge the onery, brutish customer with a crime.

  • Name: Randy
    Date posted: 9/6/2010 2:27:55 PM
    Hometown: Long Beach, CA

    Comment:

    Slater's story has changed more times than a queen changes clothes during a white party weekend. Apparently no woman stood up during taxi into JFK. Now it he claims the mystery woman confronted him during boarding or taxi-out in Pittsburg yet JetBlue and law enforcement can find neither the woman in question nor passengers who witnessed the incident. People have been severely injured and/or killed by accidentally blown evacuation slides. To intentionally deploy a slide without concern for what could happen to someone outside the door is unconscionable. I think he has about 3 minutes left on his 15 minutes.

  • Name: George
    Date posted: 9/6/2010 12:15:45 PM
    Hometown: Madison

    Comment:

    Umm, yeah... If you're going to be working on an aeroplane, and you cannot maintain your composure when people are rude to you, you should not be in that line of work. Unfortunately, in dealing with the health issues of his mother, he should have taken leave to care for his mother. He may not have been able to afford the time off, but you can't be given a free pass to go crazy when shit happens to you. Everyone's got their set of problems, after all.



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