Joe Rickey Hundley allegedly told woman to “shut that n***** baby up” before striking her child.
The alleged incident onboard a Feb. 8 Delta Airlines flight traveling to Atlanta gives new meaning to the saying "pick on someone your own size."
Delta Airlines passenger Joe Rickey Hundley, 60, has been charged with simple assault after he allegedly slapped a crying 19-month-old baby across the face. The child was sharing the seat with his mother, Jessica Bennett, who told authorities that Hundley demanded she “shut that n***** baby up” before hitting her son, Jonah.
The Smoking Gun reports:
Bennett, 33, told investigators that the “aircraft was in final descent” to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when her child “started to cry due to the altitude change.” Bennett added that she “was trying to get [her son] to stop crying, but he continued.”
At this point, Bennett recalled, Hundley used the racial epithet as he told her to shut the child up. He then allegedly “turned around and slapped” the toddler in the face “with an open hand, which caused the juvenile victim to scream even louder.” The slap, Bennett said, “caused a scratch below [the child’s] right eye.”
Bennett claimed Hundley “reeked of alcohol” and had consumed several alcoholic beverages on the two-hour flight. The FBI is investigating.
Hundley is the president of an aircraft parts manufacturer based in Idaho. Previously, he was arrested in 2007 after a fight with his girlfriend and later pled guilty to misdemeanor assault.
Read the full story here.
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(Photo: Courtesy of smokinggun.com)
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