What we know about Selma Blair’s flight disturbance, arrest and assault charges

The actress allegedly bit one flight attendant and left another with lacerations, according to police. Her lawyer said she was in the grip of a medical emergency.

Actress Selma Blair faces assault charges after a disturbance on a plane that left multiple people injured late Sunday night.

Aboard a commercial flight from Los Angeles to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Blair allegedly bit one flight attendant and left another with lacerations, according to a law enforcement official.

The 54-year-old Cruel Intentions star was taken into custody late Sunday night after authorities responded to a call and boarded the plane, parked at a gate, according to Port Authority Police Department media relations. She later allegedly kicked a law enforcement officer and a nurse, according to prosecutors.

Blair pleaded not guilty to two assault charges, according to Queens Criminal Court. She was released from custody on US$20,000 (NZ$35,600) bail.

Blair’s lawyer, Shawn Barnes, told the court Monday she had taken the flight after extensive hours on set, fell and hit her head on the plane and missed her medication. She was in the grip of a medical emergency, Barnes said.

Here’s what we know:

What happened on the flight to New York

The Port Authority said its officers were dispatched with the FBI after a report of a physically abusive passenger aboard Delta Air Lines flight 938, which arrived at JFK late Sunday night.

The suspect was identified as Blair, who was taken into custody and later transported to a hospital for evaluation. Two flight attendants said they were hurt, and one of them was sent to a hospital for additional evaluation, the agency said.

Air traffic control audio recorded by the app ATC.com, indicated that a request initially went out for medics to meet the aircraft because two crew members needed care. A later transmission characterised the harm as more minor – “a bloody nose as well as some bite marks” – without saying who was hurt, and separately relayed that the unruly passenger may have “bashed her head on the bulkhead”.

The law enforcement official told CNN one flight attendant was bitten and a second was cut, and that officers resorted to plastic restraints to subdue Blair.

As she was being strapped into a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance, Blair allegedly kicked a Port Authority officer, prosecutors said.

She freed her leg from the stretcher straps and kicked the officer in the head and chest, according to a criminal complaint. The officer had facial swelling and arm pain and was taken to a local hospital for treatment, a state prosecutor said in court Monday.

Blair was also taken to a hospital, where she allegedly kicked a nurse in the chest, the complaint said.

CNN has reached out to the Federal Aviation Administration for more information.

Delta told CNN in a statement that the airline “has zero tolerance for unruly or unlawful behaviour, as the safety of our customers and crew always comes first”. The airline also said law enforcement met the plane upon its arrival.

Blair’s attorney blames medical crisis

Blair faces two state charges of assault for allegedly kicking the Port Authority officer and the nurse, according to a criminal complaint.

She may also face federal charges for any alleged crimes aboard the flight.

The FBI has issued a summons charging her with assault related to her actions on the flight, the law enforcement source told CNN. The FBI’s New York field office told CNN it does “not comment on ongoing investigations”.

In court Monday, Barnes said the incident stemmed from a combination of exhaustion and a medical crisis.

Blair had boarded the flight after extensive hours on set, fell and hit her head on the plane, and missed several doses of her medication, he said.

“We do not believe, your honour, that this is an intentional assault,” Barnes said, according to a pool feed of the hearing.

Blair left court after being released on US$20,000 bail. The judge also issued an order of protection for the nurse she kicked.

She is due back in court on 19 January. If convicted on the state charges, she could face two to seven years in jail, a prosecutor said Monday.

In the days leading up to Sunday’s flight, Blair had been documenting a stretch of near-constant travel. That same day, she posted an Instagram video stringing together her latest travels with her dog. “From LA to New Mexico to La to nyc to LA”, she wrote. “Scout and I have been busy.”

She was traveling on Sunday’s flight with her service dog, an official told CNN.

Actress had prior plane disturbance

This is not the first time Blair has faced authorities over conduct on a commercial airliner. In 2016, she publicly apologised after becoming unruly and being removed from a flight from Cancun to Los Angeles on a stretcher. She was hospitalised afterward.

In a statement to Vanity Fair afterward, Blair described that incident as “a big mistake”, explaining that combining alcohol with her medication had caused her “to black out and led me to say and do things that I deeply regret”.

Born and raised in Michigan, Blair built a decades-long acting career spanning teen dramas, broad comedies and comic-book adaptations.

Her breakout came in 1999’s Cruel Intentions, a modern retelling of Les Liaisons dangereuses set among wealthy New York teenagers. She followed it with a major supporting role opposite Reese Witherspoon in 2001’s Legally Blonde. From there, Blair moved between genres, starring in the 2002 romantic comedy, The Sweetest Thing, and earning roles in the Hellboy film franchise.

In the last decade, she has opened up about her personal life and health struggles.

In 2017, Blair was one of the “Silence Breakers” named Time magazine’s Person of the Year after she accused writer and director James Toback of sexual harassment. (He denied wrongdoing.)

Blair was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018 and detailed her struggles with the disease in the documentary Introducing, Selma Blair. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder that attacks healthy cells in the central nervous system.

Barnes said Monday that in addition to multiple sclerosis, Blair had been diagnosed with parkinsonism, a group of movement symptoms marked by tremors and stiffness.

In her 2022 memoir Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up, she wrote about her struggles with alcohol addiction and her journey to sobriety after the 2016 plane incident.

Talking to CNBC earlier this year, she spoke about why she decided to publicly announce her battle with multiple sclerosis and the challenges of work during that initial diagnosis.

“I was just grateful to work. So I just was so happy to thank the people (I was working with) and I had no idea the impact that would have on some people that were looking for visibility, or looking for understanding of their own neurological or chronic illness journey,” she told CNBC.

“I started to feel a responsibility, the joy visibility could give other people,” she said, following the public’s response and expression of support following that announcement.

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