The Working Class Hero
August 12, 2010
After leaving his lawyer's office the day after making bail, Steven Slater drove home to his modest beachfront house in Belle Harbor, Queens, Wednesday afternoon.

The JetBlue flight attendant told police that he deployed an emergency chute, slid down, and drove home after his flight arrived in New York. He apparently had a verbal altercation with a passenger.

Law enforcement sources have told Fox 5 News that investigators are set to interview another passenger who witnessed the dispute and whose account of what happened may be different than Slater's.

"Nice to be here," he said to reporters as he exited his Jeep Wrangler.

America's latest folk hero would only say that all the attention is a bit much. His live-in partner spoke for him: "We are beyond belief the support the people are giving us."

Slater had done what many would like to do: Tell their boss to take this job and "escape hatch it."

In California, Slater's mother said her son was justified.

"He had a very small meltdown," she said. "I think he deserves to be able to have that meltdown."

Reporters have been following him all day and all night. He apparently told a New York Times reporter after posting bail that he had always wanted to pull the lever of the escape chute.

He faces criminal mischief and reckless endangerment charges. Slater is due back in court September 7, 2010.

Meantime, JetBlue isn't saying much about the incident (probably for legal reasons), but it did poke fun at the situation a bit in its blog, Blue Tales.

"It wouldn't be fair for us to point out absurdities in other corners of the industry without acknowledging when it's about us. Well, this week's news certainly falls into that category," the blog post reads. "While we can't discuss the details of what is an ongoing investigation, plenty of others have already formed opinions on the matter. Like, the entire Internet."

Posted by jc at 1:39 AM