Man accused of slapping crying child on Delta flight is out of a job
He reportedly used the n-word before assault on the child
Joe Rickey Hundley, the former aircraft parts company president accused of slapping a crying child on a Delta Air Lines flight, turned himself in to federal authorities in Idaho recently and was later released on a $10,000 bond, reports the Morning Call newspaper.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta said Hundley, of Hayden, Idaho, appeared before a federal magistrate in Coeur d’ Alene on a simple assault charge. His next court appearance, however, will be in Georgia, but a date has not been set.
Hundley did not enter a plea Tuesday, said spokesman Robert Page of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta. The Idaho man has denied striking the child or making a racial slur before the alleged assault as Flight 721 from Minneapolis to Atlanta headed for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Feb. 8.
Hundley was charged with assaulting a minor in the Feb. 8 incident. His company, which initially suspended him, said Sunday that Hundley no longer has his job.
“Reports of the recent behavior of one of our business unit executives while on personal travel are offensive and disturbing,” said a statement from AGC Aerospace & Defense. “We have taken this matter very seriously and worked diligently to examine it since learning of the matter on Friday afternoon.
“As of Sunday, the executive is no longer employed with the company.”
AGC Aerospace & Defense supplies technology and other services to the military and businesses.
Hundley’s attorney, Marcia Shein, said her client is being unfairly portrayed.
“This has escalated into a racist issue and I want to be clear he is not a racist,” Shein said.
She said that Hundley is dealing with unspecified issues.
The attorney for the child’s family, John Thompson, said the family has not decided yet whether to sue.
But he said Monday family members believe Hundley should be punished beyond the loss of his job and a possible one-year federal prison sentence.
“The family wants to make sure that Mr. Hundley and anyone like Mr. Hundley never does something like that again,” he said on CNN’s “Starting Point.”
According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta last week, the boy’s mother, Jessica Bennett, 33, of Minnesota and her son were seated in row 28, seat B, on Delta Flight 721 that originated in Minneapolis.
She spent part of the flight in the rear of the plane to get away from Hundley, who she said smelled like alcohol and was slurring his speech, according to Thompson.
As the plane began its descent into Atlanta, the boy began to cry because of the altitude change and his mother tried to soothe him.
Then Hundley, who was seated next to the mother and son, allegedly told her to “shut that (N-word) baby up.”
Hundley then turned around and slapped the child in the face with an open hand, which caused him to scream even louder, an FBI affidavit said.
The boy suffered a scratch below his right eye.
Other passengers on the plane assisted Bennett, and one of them heard the slur and witnessed the alleged assault, the affidavit said.
Shein said that even if her client did use the slur, it does not make him a racist.
The charge of simple assault on someone under age 16 carries a prison sentence of one year, court papers said.
In 2007, Hundley pleaded guilty to a misdeme-anor assault charge filed in Virginia, according to court records.
Thompson said the family will evaluate evidence before deciding whether to sue anyone, including Hundley or Delta.
Thompson said Bennett saw Hundley order two drinks while she was seated and saw him being served another one while she stood at the rear of the plane.
Ric Ward and Michael Martinez | CNN
A grateful John Edward Smith happily joined a small group of family and friends at his exoneration party Saturday, where he was welcomed with applause, cheers, and tears of relief. Smith was exonerated on Sept. 24 after spending 19 years in state prisons, most recently at Calipatria State Prison in Imperial County for a crime he did not commit.
“Thank you everyone for getting me back to my grandmother,” said the 37-year-old man. “She was the source of my faith and strength.”
Two things: This Saturday, March 2, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Nate Holden Theater-Ebony Repertory Company, 4718 Washington Blvd., the first presentation of the movement to create a national African American commemoration day: March 6, Reparations Demand Day, will occur. It will be held on March 2 because March 6 falls on Tuesday. It is free and open to the public. There will be videos and expert panelists discussing the significance of the effort in the context of where we are as African Americans today. Please come.
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Jessica Jones filed her suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Tory Burch LLC and a former co-worker, Ann Oliver. She is seeking unspecified damages.
There is an uproar brewing because of use of the n-word in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained,” reportedly 110 times. “Django Unchained” is a movie about slavery in America and a freed slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) going after and saving the love of his life, his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington).
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Robert Zimmerman, whose brother, George, is awaiting trial on a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of African American teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, told a Southland television station today that his family is not racist.
“I’m trying to re-introduce our family in the right light,” Zimmerman said in an interview on Fox 11.
George Zimmerman, 28, is free on bail and awaiting trial in the Feb. 26 shooting death. He has acknowledged shooting Martin but maintains he acted in self defense.
