Drunken man on airplane slaps another woman's 19-month old son, and calls the baby the "n-word"

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Drunken man on airplane slaps another woman's 19-month old son, and calls the baby the "n-word"

He makes Mel Gibson look civilized.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_...legedly-slapping-a-crying-toddler-on-a-plane/


Joe Hundley, Idaho man, charged with assault for allegedly slapping a crying toddler on a plane

February 18, 2013

(CBS/AP) ATLANTA - An Idaho man faces a federal assault charge after allegedly hitting a crying child and using a racial slur aboard an Atlanta-bound flight....


... The child's mother, 33-year-old Jessica Bennett, of Minneapolis, told authorities the boy was crying as the plane prepared for landing. Bennett says Hundley was sitting next to her and slapped the boy in his face, causing a scratch under his right eye. She says Hundley used a racial epithet while demanding her to quiet the boy.

Hundley "told her to shut that ('N word') baby up," Cheney said in the affidavit. "Ms. Bennett received assistance from several people on the plane ...




Oh and ... he was the president of some aerospace firm ... and he got fired because of this incident.

(VIDEO)

http://gma.yahoo.com/executive-accu...loses-job-145302655--abc-news-topstories.html
 

Xelebes

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Caught this in a middle of the discussion of a drag queen wearing blackface and making racist jokes and discussing with some boneheads who thought it wasn't racist. This story also happened to latch on to that as a way of demonstrate that racism still existed in the violent way.
 

Zoombie

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Racism still exists, but it sounds like the other passengers took the mother's side.

Racism is like cockroaches, but we're living in a pig stye, even if some people want to make it that way.
 

muravyets

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I didn't see where it says he was drunk. I was about to ask snarkily why they still serve alcohol on planes, but now I'm not sure if he was drunk or if he's just an asshole.

Either way, whatever book might be available for throwing, I hope they throw it at him.
 

tracivermillion

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Much kudos to this mom, because there is no way this story wouldn't have ended with--and then mom kills racist asshole--if that were me. Touch my babies and you will pull back a bloody stump.
 

J.S.F.

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The more things change...

(sighs)
 

kikazaru

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Much kudos to this mom, because there is no way this story wouldn't have ended with--and then mom kills racist asshole--if that were me. Touch my babies and you will pull back a bloody stump.

Ditto.
 

Chrissy

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I didn't see where it says he was drunk.

Me either. But it sounds like a drunk thing. (Lack of restraint.)

I appreciate that the company fired him, but from their statement it sounds like the typical denial to disassociate themselves from him and avoid bad publicity.

I wonder if they had evidence beforehand that he was out of control? Just speculating, of course. People who have alcohol or anger management problems tend to give signs before completely losing it.

Much kudos to this mom, because there is no way this story wouldn't have ended with--and then mom kills racist asshole--if that were me. Touch my babies and you will pull back a bloody stump.
Excellent point.
 

JulianneQJohnson

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Me either. But it sounds like a drunk thing. (Lack of restraint.)

I appreciate that the company fired him, but from their statement it sounds like the typical denial to disassociate themselves from him and avoid bad publicity.

I wonder if they had evidence beforehand that he was out of control? Just speculating, of course. People who have alcohol or anger management problems tend to give signs before completely losing it.


Excellent point.

I heard someone today say something like "Oh, well, he was drunk." Since when is that an excuse for anything? (I'm not talking about you, Chrissy. Your comment just made me think of it.) I can understand that alcoholism is an addiction, but it's an explanation, not an excuse. I have been completely wasted many times in my life, and never have I hit a human being because of it, let alone a wee little baby boy. If that man was drinking, I still think he must be a miserable excuse for a human being even when sober. And if he's only a viscious hedge pig when he's drunk, then why is he drinking at all? There's a million places to help people learn not to drink. I'm glad he's fired, no matter why the company dumped him. Would you want a baby slapping drunk working for you?
 
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missesdash

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Read about this a couple of days ago and decided, immediately, that if someone *slapped* my son and called him a "nigger baby" I'd be the one going to jail.


Suuuuch disgusting behavior. Really. If the man was drunk, I hope he is completely ashamed of himself.

Sort of related: I don't have a problem with people spanking their kids, but when my mother always talks about how my aunt used to smack my cousin in the face when he was a baby. Instead of a smack on the bum, she'd smack him, open-handed, across the face. So incredibly demeaning. I know babies don't have a sense of self and so can't technically be humiliated but it's still very horrible imo. Er but enough about my family...
 

frimble3

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I gather the flight was from Minneapolis to Atlanta, so not some lengthy intercontinental flight.
If he was drunk enough to lower his inhibitions enough to slap some stranger's baby, he was either really drunk, or he had few inhibitions to start with. It makes me wonder how often he's been drunk or 'uninhibited' on the ground, while conducting company business, at company functions. How often he's made inappropriate comments or actions to co-workers or underlings or customers?
It may have made his employers wonder that as well.
 

cornflake

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Ok, let me preface this with being clear that he seems a loony, no one (uhm, obviously), should be slapping any baby or using racial epithets or etc.

He also, obviously, may well have been drunk, or not, and if he was, may be because he's a drunk in general, etc.

However, just because people seemed to be equating 'if he was drunk' to 'wonder how often he was drunk at work' - there are lots of people who hate/fear flying and regardless of the length of the flight will drink or take stuff to try to fly with less anxiety. So if someone were drunk on a flight, doesn't mean they'd necessarily be so in the rest of their life.

*I don't think being drunk, for whichever reason, would in any way excuse his behaviour.

**I don't drink to fly.
 

Plot Device

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The "drunk or not drunk" question .....

I read several different news items about this before settling on the two I linked in the OP. And one of the various news items said he was drunk at the time, and the woman said when she at first gasped and said "What did you call my baby?" he leaned into her ear, she could smell the alcohol on his breath, and he repeated the racist slur with hot, heavy alcohol breath into her ear.

Another story said the man has had several episodes of public drunkenness as found on police records here and there throughout his lifetime.
 

AVS

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There's always some pillock doing something odious somewhere on the planet at any time of the day. The joy of the interconnected world is we get to hear about it in a way that once we never would. Sadly this can lead us to think there are more bad things than there actually are.

Though much goes unreported because it's become mundane, yesterday if recent averages are maintained there were 40 murders in the USA and 2 in the UK... this racist incident was reported, showing it was not common place or mundane, and there is hope in that I think.
 

bearilou

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I remember watching one report on it and the news reporter said the man's attorney said 'let's not be hasty in rushing to judge him'.

Um. Grown man slaps a stranger's baby.

Honestly? In what world is that even remotely defensible? Like...ever.
 

Ken

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... the "slap" could have been damaging.
Babies a fragile. A slap to a baby is like a punch.
 

Celia Cyanide

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I remember watching one report on it and the news reporter said the man's attorney said 'let's not be hasty in rushing to judge him'.

Um. Grown man slaps a stranger's baby.

Honestly? In what world is that even remotely defensible? Like...ever.

Um....yeah. This is one of those times when I don't care if there's more to the story blah blah blah...I think I'll judge him as much as I want to. If you've got any humanity in you at all, you don't hit a baby.
 

JimmyB27

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I remember watching one report on it and the news reporter said the man's attorney said 'let's not be hasty in rushing to judge him'.

Um. Grown man slaps a stranger's baby.

Honestly? In what world is that even remotely defensible? Like...ever.
Maybe if said baby is on fire?
 

Kaiser-Kun

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Maybe if said baby is on fire?

I doubt a slap would calm a burning toddler.

Anyway, I support the congratulations for the lady's self-restraint. Anyone slaps a baby in front of me, I'll gladly break every bone in his hand.
 

Alpha Echo

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It's just unbelievable. I agree with the kudos to the mother b/c I'm not so sure...well...I KNOW if it had been my husband with DD, the man would be seriously injured. At the least. Drunk or not.

To the spanking stuff: I'm not against spanking at all, though we don't. I AM against slapping open handed or punching or anything more than a swap on the booty or maybe a slap on the wrist. I am also against doing what my mother did and pulling down the kids' pants and smacking a naked bottom. That was more embarrassing than the spank was painful.
 

thebloodfiend

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I think it says a lot about someone's character if they start doing shit like this when they get drunk.

I know girls who get really flirty when they're drunk, gay guys who decide they're straight when they're drunk, people who get mouthy to their teachers when they're drunk, but I don't know anyone who decides to start slapping babies when they're drunk. Though I do know one person who goes completely off with slurs with they get morphine. And they're not exactly the most racially enlightened person sober, anyway.
 

Sheryl Nantus

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I'm sort of curious how the old man got so drunk. Hip flask? Drunk on the flight? Drinking at the airport bar?

While it doesn't excuse his behavior (glad he got fired!) I'd like to find out if the airport/airline is partially responsible. We get upset with bartenders letting people drink and drive, I'd like to see the same restrictions followed with passengers. If he arrived at the airport drunk, how did he get through security? If he drank at the bar before the flight, how did he get boarded? If he got drunk ON the flight, why wasn't he cut off earlier?

Again, glad he's suffering the consequences of his actions. But there's a bit more here I'd like to see discussed.