Chris Christie has a history of making travel difficult for people; the former New Jersey governor’s legacy may wind up being “Bridgegate,” from 2013. Apparently that quality runs in the family: As per Times-Picayne out of New Orleans, a woman claiming to be Christie’s niece was forced off a plane and injured six (six!) deputies in the process.
On Thanksgiving Day, one Shannon Epstein had boarded a Jersey-bound Spirits Airlines flight at Louis Armstrong International Airport when she made big stink about a family near her who she thought was Latino. She accused them of being drug mules, asking if they were “smuggling cocaine.” As she became increasingly irate, flight staff requested Epstein be removed from the flight, which had already begun to taxi to the runway.
After the plane returned to the gate, Epstein refused to depart. When deputies began to arrest her, she became, in the words of a Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, “extremely combative.” She put up a fight, biting one deputy in the arm and breaking the skin. Another she kicked in the groin. All together she injured six officers, while shouting that her uncle was Christie, a good friend of Donald John Trump.
Eventually Epstein was handcuffed to a wheelchair and moved to the airport security office, all while still shouting obscenities and still trying to bite officers. She was booked with six counts of battery on a police officer, three of disturbing the peace, one of resisting arrest by force, and one of remaining after forbidden to be there. She was back on the streets later that day but only after paying $10,750 in bail.
It’s yet another wild tale from an unusually chaotic Thanksgiving, which also saw a man fall off a cruise ship and tread water for 20 hours before being saved. Then there was a certain former president — and pal of Epstein’s alleged uncle — dining with some anti-Semites.
(Via Times-Picayne)