Man Pleads Not Guilty To Slapping Toddler On The Plane

Man Pleads Not Guilty To Slapping Toddler On The Plane

The 60-year-old white man who made headlines last month for allegedly smacking another passenger’s crying toddler before using a racial slur while on a flight headed to ATL has plead not guilty.

via The Grio

A man accused of slapping a toddler on an Atlanta-bound flight and using a racial slur has pleaded not guilty to assault in federal court.

Joe Rickey Hundley, of Hayden, Idaho, appeared in court Wednesday. Authorities say he used racial slur when telling a fellow passenger to quiet her baby and slapped the child. The incident unfolded Feb. 8 aboard a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis.

Hundley’s attorney, Marcia Shein, says the 60-year-old man has admitted to using the racial slur. She told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Hundley was traveling to Atlanta to take his only child off of life support after his son overdosed on insulin. She says Hundley was distraught during the flight.

While it’s very sad and unfortunate that this man was heading to take his own child off of life support and also understandable that he would be stressed under those circumstances, that doesn’t excuse him slapping this child. From the sound of the plea and explanation, we’d guess that he actually did slap the child and wants to court to sympathize with his “I was stressed” justification.

What do you think Bossip fam?

Photo Credit: NBC