Steven Slater's Story Continues to Unravel

[oberliner]

His lawyer, Howard Turman, says Slater's meltdown Monday began when he got his head nicked as two passengers tried to shove their bags into the overhead before takeoff. "With great difficulty," Turman says, "they were shoving the bags around, attempting to get it in. Stephen came over to assist, and either the bag or the overhang hit him in the head."

But, The Wall Street Journal reports, Port Authority police are beginning to doubt how true that is. The Journal quotes them as saying none of the passengers told investigators they witnessed Slater being injured. "I think this is moving toward a working theory of, 'It never happened,' the Journal quotes one Port Authority officer as saying. "There are some people who have said he came on board the aircraft with injuries," the officer continued.

And police who took Slater into custody told the Journal that, at the time of his arrest, "His eyes were bloodshot, he smelled of alcohol and he was unsteady on his feet."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/13/earlyshow/main6769324.shtml

[rfranklin]

1. Perhaps he had an encounter with a wide stance Congressman...

in the airport men's room?

[Sanity Claws]

2. What he was like at time of his arrest is irrelevant

He went home and like many, he drank after a tough day at work.

I'm more interested in hearing stories about what actually happened on the flight.

[hedgehog]

3. All the stories I've seen that are critical of Slater originate with the Wall Street Journal.

Whatever the truth of Slater's story, I think the overlords are getting nervous about restless peasants!

[gkhouston]

11. Good observation.

Maybe someone is uneasy about how this "take this job and shove it" story is resonating with the public.

[Donnachaidh]

15. yeah, and Msnbc is revelling in this bullshit.

Chuck Todd and whatsherface lose all credibility when they start snarking about stuff like this. What a frigging tool!

[godai]

6. Yeah, and in preparing for that, he took 2 beers from the plane.

I'm just amazed how anyone actually supports this guy. He basically went postal, fortunately not when the plane was in the air. He'll never work on a plane again and probably will go to jail.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

4. The only passenger that I heard complain about him was a woman whose coffee stain was more

more important than the fresh gash she saw on his head. I would be pissed and rude too if I were him.
BTW...I heard her with my own ears on yesterday morning's Today Show. She was a self-absorbed idiot.

The media is now trying to tear him down because working class "heroes" are dangerous to the status quo.

On edit... Steven is HIV positive and open gashes can be a problem......

[Sanity Claws]

5. Yes, open gashes can be a problem for him and others around him

[burnsei sensei]

13. More of a problem for him.

He's the one with the compromised immune system.

[godai]

8. Well, here's more...

With a fresh-looking gash on his forehead, Steven Slater finished his safety demonstration on the airplane and threw down the life vest, annoyed.

As passengers boarded JetBlue Flight 1052 from Pittsburgh to New York on Monday, they noticed that one of the flight attendants seemed a little ... off.

"He was ticked off about something," Gib Mendelson, 64, a passenger on the flight, told AOL News today in a phone interview. "He was just peevish. His demeanor was clearly unusual

"I didn't think she was rude in the least," passenger Marjorie Briskin, 53, told The Wall Street Journal, speaking of the so far unidentified passenger who pushed Slater over the edge. "It really blew my mind. It was so inappropriate."

Other passengers said there were signs Slater was becoming unhinged throughout the flight, long before he slid down the emergency chute to notoriety. According to them, Slater stormed around the cabin opening and closing overhead bins, and reacted to routine requests from passengers with contempt.

"He was slightly testy to say the least," Howard Deneroff, 42, told AOL News today. Deneroff, a radio host, said he told Slater his seat was in the upright position, but the flight attendant didn't believe him and reached over his body in a huff to push the button and try to push the seat back further.



http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/jetblue-passengers-have-different-view-of-flight-attendant-steven-slater-saga/19590935

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

10. So?

The incident obviously took place before take-off and it was probably the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.

[godai]

12. You're claiming, being HIV positive, he walked around the flight with an open cut?

How heroic of him. I have no idea of his HIV status but, if true, that's probably another crime.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

14. The incident with the passenger complaining about the coffee stain was at the beginning of the

flight and she said he said something about taking care of himself (his wound) before taking care of her. I don't know if he did, but that kind of indicates that he intended to take care of his wound.

[razorman]

7. The changes in this story do not surprise me. I always wait 24-48 hours

before paying much attention to any big news story. When something newsworthy happens, the first reports are ALWAYS wrong. Things need to settle down a bit, with more facts coming out, before I make up my mind whether to believe any particular story.

[godai]

9. JetBlue woundn't release the manifest. It took time for media to find passengers.

The phrase 'going JetBlue' is one they're trying to avoid.

[MindPilot]

16. Having borne witness to more than one in-flight gay-bashing...

I can totally see how and why this guy snapped. The "take this job & shove it" message does resonate very deeply with a seriously fucked over working class. But looking a little deeper, if the verbal abuse I've experienced quite publicly heaped on gay flight attendants is any example, I can only imagine what they have to endure that isn't loud enough for everyone on the plane to hear.

Steven Slater is my new hero!