If You Haven't Heard This Story

From CNN.com
It sounds like something you would only read if you were waiting at the dentist office (strange because CNN will usually offer up a headline like "Angelina Jolie Arrested After Shooting in the Kenyan Embassy".  Then you find out that she took a nap after filming something.  So, hard to understand why such a tame headline for such a gem of a story:

Flight attendant charged with opening emergency evacuation chute

From Susan Candiotti, Laura Batchelor and Jesse Solomon, CNN

August 9, 2010 7:37 p.m. EDT

A JetBlue flight attendant is suspected of triggering an emergency evacuation chute in a parked plane.

 

New York (CNN) -- Police arrested a flight attendant Monday suspected of triggering an emergency escape chute on a plane parked at a JFK Airport terminal, a spokeswoman for the district attorney said.
Steven Slater was arrested at his home and charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and criminal trespass, said Helen Peterson at the Queens District Attorney's Office.
The incident took place just after the Jet Blue flight landed when a passenger stood to remove a bag from the overhead bin while the plane was still taxiing, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge said. A flight attendant exchanged words with the passenger, and the conversation escalated.
Slater picked up the intercom and used expletives directed at the passengers, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. It is not clear exactly what was said on the intercom. The source said that when the plane at stopped at the gate, Slater then grabbed some beer from the beverage cart before deploying the emergency slide and using it to leave the plane.and then deplaning via the emergency slide.
The source said that Port Authority police did not learn about the incident for about 20 to 25 minutes after it took place. Jet Blue public affairs would not respond to that claim.
The airline also would not confirm any details of the incident but said that the evacuation slide was deployed on a plane that had parked at the gate after arriving from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The identity of the passenger involved in the altercation has not been confirmed.
As a rule, passengers are required to stay in their seats with their seatbelts fastened until the pilot has reached the gate and gives the all clear sign.

Peterson said the second degree criminal mischief and first degree reckless endangerment charges are felonies that could land Slater in jail for up to seven years. The criminal trespass charge and two other lesser mischief and endangerment charges are misdemeanors.