Sen. Chuck Schumer could have been arrested for outburst on plane

3 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

On Sunday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) caused a disturbance aboard a US Airways shuttle flight from New York to Washington.

On Wednesday, a House Republican aide who was on the same flight as Schumer, spoke to Politico.com and described the incident…

Sen. Schumer was sitting next to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), both were talking on their phones after the announcement came over the loud speaker to turn off all electronic devices. A flight attendant then informed the two that everyone on the plane was now waiting for the two Senators to end their phone calls.

The unnamed source said Schumer asked the flight attendant if he could finish his conversation, to which she replied “no.”

Schumer hung up the phone and began arguing with the attendant.

The aide said: “He argued with her about the rule. She said she doesn’t make the rules, she just follows them.”

When the attendant turned away, Schumer caller a “bitch.”

Schumer’s office played-down the incident, but admitted to the profane outburst.

Schumer spokesman Brian Fallon stated: “The senator made an off-the-cuff comment under his breath that he shouldn’t have made, and he regrets it.”

While the episode is undoubtedly embarrassing and may speak to the character of Sen. Schumer, his status as a federal lawmaker may have saved him from an arrest and even a prison sentence.

According to the U.S Justice Department, under the Patriot Act, more than 200 people have been convicted of felonies aboard commercial airliners, often times for simply raising their voices and using profanity.

In Jan. 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported on two very minor incidents that led to very major consequences for three airline passengers.

In 2007, Tamera Jo Freeman, 40, was flying Frontier Airlines with her two children on their way to Denver. The children became unruly and knocked a Bloody Mary into her lap.

In response, she swatted both children on the thigh.

A flight attendant then confronted Freeman over the incident. She argued back, cursing at the attendant, and threw a can of tomato juice on the floor.

Freeman ended up spending the next three months in jail, before pleading guilty to an act of terrorism under the Patriot Act, a federal felony which will forever haunt the mother of two.

In another case, a couple was arrested for arguing with a flight attendant because the two were apparently hugging and kissing.

An FBI affidavit described the couple as "embracing, kissing and acting in a manner that made other passengers uncomfortable."

In Schumer's case, we find yet another glaring example of this nation's two-tiered justice system.

 

participate in immigration news polls