A New York judge has made clear that fame won't earn Selma Blair special consideration as the actress fights a pair of new assault charges stemming from a turbulent night that began at 35,000 feet and ended in a Queens hospital.
The 54-year-old, best known for Legally Blonde, Cruel Intentions and the Hellboy films, now faces legal trouble on two fronts: a federal case tied to her alleged behaviour on board a Delta Air Lines jet, and state charges over what prosecutors say happened after she was taken off. She has pleaded not guilty.
Trouble in the air
The episode unfolded on Sunday evening on a Delta service from Los Angeles to New York. According to the BBC, airport authorities were alerted to a passenger allegedly turning physical with cabin crew as the plane approached landing. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said two flight attendants were injured, one seriously enough to need hospital treatment.
Air traffic control recordings, reported by CBS News and cited by the BBC, capture the pilot requesting medical assistance and describing injuries that included a bleeding nose and bite marks.
Blair was detained by police at around 11 pm Sunday after the jet parked at the gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The FBI subsequently issued her a federal summons on a charge of assault within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, the legal framework that covers crimes committed aboard aircraft
Alleged attacks on the ground
The state charges relate to events after Blair left the plane. Prosecutors allege that while she was being taken to hospital by ambulance, she freed her leg from the stretcher’s restraints and repeatedly kicked a Port Authority police officer in the face, neck and chest, according to a criminal complaint. Once at the hospital, she is accused of assaulting a nurse. The nurse said Blair kicked her in the chest, causing substantial pain.
Both counts are second-degree felony assault charges involving workers protected under New York law, and each carries a possible sentence of up to seven years in prison.
A courtroom plea for perspective
At her arraignment in Queens Criminal Court, defence attorney Shawn Barnes urged the judge to weigh Blair’s career and reputation, the BBC reported. He argued that violent behaviour was out of character for his client, described her as a role model to many, and called her the “gold standard.”
The judge was unmoved, telling the court that celebrity status did not entitle Blair to different treatment from any other defendant, according to the BBC. Judge Indira Khan set bail at $20,000 cash or a $60,000 bond, which Blair posted, and also issued an order of protection for the nurse.
Barnes also offered an explanation for what happened. He told the court Blair had boarded the flight after long hours on set, fell and struck her head on the plane, and had missed several doses of her medication, and argued the alleged assaults were not intentional.
'A medical emergency'
Blair’s camp has maintained that her health, not malice, lay behind the incident. Her representatives told the BBC she suffered a medical emergency that led to the conduct now under scrutiny. She was hospitalised after the flight and has since been released on bail.
Not the first in-flight incident
This is not the first time Blair has drawn the attention of authorities over conduct on a commercial airliner. In 2016, she was removed from a Delta flight from Cancun to Los Angeles on a stretcher following an outburst. She later apologised publicly, saying she had mixed alcohol with medication, causing her to black out and act in ways she deeply regretted.