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Woman accused of punching JetBlue flight attendant
BY EDGAR SANDOVAL and RICH SCHAPIRO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Friday, June 20th 2008, 1:38 AM
Christina Szele said she had been drinking and doesn't remember anything about the incident.
A drunken Queens woman who pals say is a "a good person when she's sober" faces 20 years in jail on charges she lit a cigarette on a cross-country jet and attacked a flight attendant while drunk.
A boozed-up Christina Szele, 35, was a passenger on a JetBlue plane from New York to San Francisco on Tuesday when she began puffing away on a cigarette in midflight, a federal affidavit says.
Shocked attendant Paul Whyte snatched the smoke out of Szele's mouth and put flex cuffs on her after the enraged air traveler began kicking and screaming, the affidavit says.
Szele, a graphic designer, then broke free from the plastic restraints and allegedly punched Whyte in the jaw.
She threatened Whyte, who is black, and called him a "n-----" and "black motherf-----" as he recuffed her, the affidavit says.
Again, the restraints didn't restrain Szele much.
The pilot then diverted the plane to Colorado. FBI agents greeted Szele in Denver with a pair of real handcuffs and federal charges: interference with flight attendants and assault.
Szele told investigators she didn't remember smoking or "attacking anyone" because the flight attendants served her too much booze - a total of three vodka drinks.
An attendant said Szele, who admitted drinking two beers prior to takeoff, was served only one drink.
Szele's brother, Ladi Szele, a 45-year-old accountant from Queens, said his sister called him the day after her arrest. "She told me 'Ladi, this is so embarrassing.'"
He said his sister began "drinking a lot a year ago" after her 10-year relationship with a California man ended.The nasty comment to the flight attendant "was just drunk talk. My sister isn't a racist," the brother said.
Szele's roommate said he wasn't surprised her boozing got her in trouble.
"When she drinks beer, she's okay. When she drinks vodka, she gets violent," said the roommate, who identified himself only as Steve S. "She is a good person - when she's sober."
BY EDGAR SANDOVAL and RICH SCHAPIRO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Friday, June 20th 2008, 1:38 AM
A drunken Queens woman who pals say is a "a good person when she's sober" faces 20 years in jail on charges she lit a cigarette on a cross-country jet and attacked a flight attendant while drunk.
A boozed-up Christina Szele, 35, was a passenger on a JetBlue plane from New York to San Francisco on Tuesday when she began puffing away on a cigarette in midflight, a federal affidavit says.
Shocked attendant Paul Whyte snatched the smoke out of Szele's mouth and put flex cuffs on her after the enraged air traveler began kicking and screaming, the affidavit says.
Szele, a graphic designer, then broke free from the plastic restraints and allegedly punched Whyte in the jaw.
She threatened Whyte, who is black, and called him a "n-----" and "black motherf-----" as he recuffed her, the affidavit says.
Again, the restraints didn't restrain Szele much.
The pilot then diverted the plane to Colorado. FBI agents greeted Szele in Denver with a pair of real handcuffs and federal charges: interference with flight attendants and assault.
Szele told investigators she didn't remember smoking or "attacking anyone" because the flight attendants served her too much booze - a total of three vodka drinks.
An attendant said Szele, who admitted drinking two beers prior to takeoff, was served only one drink.
Szele's brother, Ladi Szele, a 45-year-old accountant from Queens, said his sister called him the day after her arrest. "She told me 'Ladi, this is so embarrassing.'"
He said his sister began "drinking a lot a year ago" after her 10-year relationship with a California man ended.The nasty comment to the flight attendant "was just drunk talk. My sister isn't a racist," the brother said.
Szele's roommate said he wasn't surprised her boozing got her in trouble.
"When she drinks beer, she's okay. When she drinks vodka, she gets violent," said the roommate, who identified himself only as Steve S. "She is a good person - when she's sober."
