Actor Selma Blair allegedly 'bashed her head' during a violent incident aboard a Delta flight that left a flight attendant and a passenger with a 'bloody nose' and 'bite marks', according to 911 dispatch audio. In the audio, which was first reported by TMZ, the pilot could be heard asking air traffic control (ATC) to ask police and medical personnel to reach the flight gate to help with injuries sustained during the violent altercation on a flight from Los Angeles to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
"It sounds like the disruptive passenger also bashed her head on the bulkhead or something like that," the pilot told the tower, according to audio posted on the ATC app.
"So we'll obviously have to get her potentially checked out as well as involved with law enforcement."
Polit said, "One passenger and one flight attendant sustained some minor injuries -- a bloody nose as well as some bite marks."
When asked how many ambulances should be sent, he said, "I don't think we need an ambulance or anything like that," but he asked for medical personnel to be waiting at the gate "to look at their injuries."
"One additional add-on: it sounds like the disrupted passenger also bashed her head off of the bulkhead or something like that, so we will have to get her potentially checked out as well," he added.
Blair was arrested after she was accused of injuring two people on a flight from Los Angeles to New York. She was also accused of kicking a police officer taking her to the hospital and kicking a nurse once she got there.
The 54-year-old actor pleaded not guilty on Monday night to two counts of assault for state charges involving the officer and the nurse. And she faces separate federal charges based on what happened on the flight, which her representatives say resulted from a severe medical emergency.
Blair and one of the flight attendants were taken to a hospital for evaluation, the Port Authority said.
A police officer taking her to Jamaica Hospital Medical Centre said in charging documents that while she was securing Blair to a stretcher, Blair pulled a leg from the straps and kicked her repeatedly around the face, neck and chest, causing serious pain and substantial swelling. Later, a nurse moving Blair said the actor kicked her in the chest, causing substantial pain.
Her attorney Shawn Barnes told a judge her actions were not intentional. He said the actor, who has multiple sclerosis, missed several doses of "a powerful medication that controls severe neurological symptoms", according to the New York Daily News and New York Post.
He said she had boarded the flight in Los Angeles after a heavy workload and had hit her head during the flight. He said these factors, along with the altitude, led to "a state of severe confusion and disorientation."
The judge set her bail at $20,000 cash or a $60,000 bond and set the next hearing for January. She left court with her lawyers.
Details of what happened aboard the aircraft weren't immediately disclosed by the airline, police or the FBI, which was investigating, but Delta said in a statement it "has zero tolerance for unruly or unlawful behaviour, as the safety of our customers and crew always comes first."
It's not the first time Blair has had issues aboard a plane. In 2016, Blair apologised for making statements she later regretted during a flight from Cancun to Los Angeles. She said she had mixed alcohol with medication, causing her to black out.
Blair had major roles in films including 1999's "Cruel Intentions", 2001's "Legally Blonde" and 2004's "Hellboy".
In recent years, she has advocated for disability rights after getting her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in 2018.