Joe Rickey Hundley, of Hayden, Idaho, has been charged with simple assault. His attorney said he will plead not guilty.
Bennett, 33, told authorities her son was crying as the Delta Air Lines flight prepared for landing. Hundley, 60, was sitting next to her and slapped the boy in his face, causing a scratch under his right eye, she said.
Hundley “told her to shut that (N-word) baby up,” FBI special agent Daron Cheney said in a sworn statement. “Ms. Bennett received assistance from several people on the plane.”
The mother of the child, Jessica Bennett, says that her son has become apprehensive to strangers in the wake of the incident. Hundley, the president of Unitech Composites and Structures, was suspended by his employer in the wake of the incident, though he denies the allegations against him. The incident took place as the plane landed in Minneapolis Atlanta.
One mistake does not erase an otherwise honorable career. It’s a good guess that the embarrassment anybody might feel for him is nothing compared with the embarrassment he feels for himself. It’s bad enough that Crapo has to explain himself to his wife and family. It’s worse when he has to explain himself to 1.6 million constituents, many of whom have viewed Crapo as an example of what American politics should be about.The Idaho Statesman editorial board • Offering a little Christmas cheer in the direction of Sen. Mike Crapo, who was arrested for a DUI over the weekend. It feels like we’re watching the plot to a Frank Capra film happen in real life, and our heart just grew three sizes as we were writing this post. We’re headed to the urgent care facility right now to get this enlarged heart checked out. (ht Ben Smith)
Senator arrested for DUI charges: In what was already not looking like a great holiday for Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo (he’s stuck in D.C. negotiating the fiscal cliff), the senator was arrested in Virginia on Saturday night after failing a series of field sobriety tests. Crapo, by the way, is a Mormon, which means that it could put him in trouble in another sense, as the religion eschews alcohol. (AP photo)
UPDATE: Crapo has released a statement to Politico. “I will also undertake measures to ensure that this circumstance is never repeated. I accept total responsibility and will deal with whatever penalty comes my way in this matter,” he said.
True story: Nickelback once headlined a show at my college. Before the concert there was a band playing outside (Starsailor, I think — I’m a sucker for Britpop) in a free concert. So I walked all the way to the other side of campus to see Starsailor for free, bought a CD, then walked home. All without seeing Nickelback. Why did I need to? I saw a band that was 50 times better for free. This was like a decade ago, and they sucked back then, too. For all I know the members of Starsailor now work at Starbucks — just like Nickelback founding member Mike Kroeger did when he came up with the name for his awful, awful band. Anyway, this story is funny. — Ernie @ SFB
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