Steven Slater was agitated and aggressive, other passengers say
New reports are now pegging folk hero and former JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater as the aggressor and not the victim in his de-planing meltdown. Slater made international headlines after he deployed the aircraft’s exit slide and fled his job following an altercation with a passenger at JFK Airport on August 9. Slater’s lawyer described a confrontation with an aggressive passenger, which included Slater being slammed in the head with the lid of an overhead bin, as the accelerant that led to the meltdown. But now at least one passenger aboard that flight says it was Slater who acted aggressively when the flight landed and used an expletive with a passenger. Other passengers described Slater as agitated throughout the 90-minute flight from Pittsburgh to New York, and recalled him repeatedly opening and slamming shut fridge doors and the overhead bins.