Company suspends exec charged with slapping toddler on plane
ATLANTA (AP) - The employer of a 60-year-old Idaho executive says it has suspended the man after authorities charged him with slapping a 2-year-old boy aboard a flight to Atlanta.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the parent company of Unitech Composites and Structures in Hayden, Idaho, confirmed Saturday that its president, Joe Rickey Hundley, was suspended pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.
Al Haase, president and CEO of parent company AGC Aerospace and Defense, Composite Group, said in a statement the company is "taking this matter seriously."
Hundley was charged with simple assault after Jessica Bennett, 33, of Minneapolis told authorities he slapped her crying boy in the face and used a racial slur.
An affidavit filed in U.S. District Court by FBI special agent Daron Cheney says Hundley slapped the 2-year-old during a Delta Air flight from Minneapolis on Feb. 8.
The child's mother 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 slur 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, including male passenger Todd Wooten." Cheney said.
Wooten was seated rows in front of Bennett and said he came to help after he heard derogatory language being used behind him, according to court documents. Bennett said the infant began crying louder after he was slapped.
District attorneys officials say Hundley was not taken into custody and it is unclear when the case will go to court.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the parent company of Unitech Composites and Structures in Hayden, Idaho, confirmed Saturday that its president, Joe Rickey Hundley, was suspended pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.
Al Haase, president and CEO of parent company AGC Aerospace and Defense, Composite Group, said in a statement the company is "taking this matter seriously."
Hundley was charged with simple assault after Jessica Bennett, 33, of Minneapolis told authorities he slapped her crying boy in the face and used a racial slur.
An affidavit filed in U.S. District Court by FBI special agent Daron Cheney says Hundley slapped the 2-year-old during a Delta Air flight from Minneapolis on Feb. 8.
The child's mother 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 slur 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, including male passenger Todd Wooten." Cheney said.
Wooten was seated rows in front of Bennett and said he came to help after he heard derogatory language being used behind him, according to court documents. Bennett said the infant began crying louder after he was slapped.
District attorneys officials say Hundley was not taken into custody and it is unclear when the case will go to court.
Had it been me I would have flipped and beat the crap out of him. I have flown with screaming babies -- no fun for the parent either. While I myself am not racist, this also shows that even in 2013 stupid people still exist and have their own issues with interracial couples/babies. Doesn't matter if the baby was adopted or her biological child - he was only going by color. Our country is still not ready for interracial people. Do you think he would have said that had the parent been the same skin tone of the mother?
I admire the mother's restraint. Were that my child, I'd have probably had to pulled off of that guy, and he'd have had a lot more than a slap. (which looks to totally contradict my response to Pincorrect below, but once you hurt a baby, it's on)
60 years old and acting like he's a really ballsy 20. More and more unstable guys over 40. Not cool.
Totally indefensible and absolutely inexusable. HOWEVER, anyone who has flown any amount of time knows that flying with infants around you can be a very trying experience. Why a passenger not traveling with an infant should be subjected to that torture, I'm not totally clear. "Disney" section, anyone?
@pincorrect Things you learn to live with. Usually (usually), the parents aren't having a picnic either. Just like a dog barking at all hours, or car horns. People need to learn to cope and get over it. Only in the US and much of Europe are we so collectively arrogant that we expect a 1965 Mayberry environment at all times. Try going to Singapore or Hong Kong and share your city and daily space with several million people you've never met. People have long lost rational reactions and responsible handling of any situation, no matter how small. These are the same wankers who punch the girl working at a drive through for being out of McNuggets.Â
Hayden Idaho...enough said!
I wondered if his company would suspend him. He should just stop denying what he said and did since there are witnesses including someone from law enforcement.
Ms. Bennett is to be commended for adopting this little boy and raisiing him. She doesn't need some bigot attacking her child and neither does anyone else. There is no fool like an old fool.
There are reasons and there are excuses, and they are not necessarily the same.
His REASON for slapping the child may have been frustration at the crying child.
There is NO EXCUSE for what he did. NONE!
I would have just knocked Joe out if I'd been on the plane. Of course I don't fly any more in these cattle cars they call planes. If I can't drive I don't go.
@Blindman I agree. It's bad enough to smack someone else's child. It's something else to comit a hate crime against a two year old.
@Blindman With bag fees and stuff, it's actually a really good value to fly first class on Alaska if you have several bags.Â
@lakeview @Blindman That use to be the only way I would fly. If it was a job offer that I had to fly to I would upgrade to first class or I wouldn't fly. Now I don't fly at all even though I would like to do some traveling. But I refuse to give up my 4th Amendment rights just to fly on an uncomfortable plane. If we ever return to the constitution then I might start flying again. All these idiots that want the government to do everything for them are ruining the rest of us civil rights.
@Blindman @lakeview Going through a metal detector and "possible" par down is a terrible reason not to travel. More of an excuse if you ask me. I will NOT go through a back scatter machine, but if they want to pat me down, I'll let them.
@Blindman @lakeview Funny that people whined about the toy 'drone' that SPD had yet say nothing about a 5 year old getting frisked just to board a plane, or the texts and emails that get read daily by law enforcement without obtaining a warrant first, or even the fact that police heli's and fixed wing aircraft already in service, do the same thing that the proposed drone could have done... Let's not even get into the sattelites that have powerful enough optics on them that they can read our ATM or McDonald's receipts from over 100 miles above in orbit.
Wow. I mean...wow.Â
Shocking that a man named Joe Rickey from Idaho would do anything racist.
@Laracco Prior to Idaho, he lived in the south ;-)
@Pollywannacracker ...and exactly what does that mean? Being from the South doesn't "make" a person a bigot. There are plenty of them to go around--even up here in Seattle.
@chandler @Pollywannacracker It makes them more "likely" to be a bigot, especially if they were raised in the South. Â
@Laracco fascinating how people that pride themselves on being superior to unstable bigots like this one are no better.
@Laracco
Even more suprising that he's a president of a high-tech company. The company is doing the right thing by suspending him. Hopefully he'll now have to get a job in the real world, where we all have to live together.
@marsneedswomen I'll bet $5 that he will still be out of a job a year from now--unless he is working at a MacDonalds or a 7/11.
@Laracco no kidding! anytime you have the 1st name/ middle name combo its trouble.