Passenger Fired After Slapping Toddler on Flight

By Alastair Jamieson, NBC News

Credit: Kootenai County Sheriff, file

Joe Hundley was charged with assault after allegedly hitting a 19-month-old boy who had started to cry aboard a Delta flight.

February 18, 2013 Updated Feb 18, 2013 at 10:28 AM PDT

A man accused of uttering a racial slur and slapping another passenger's crying toddler during a flight has been fired in the wake of the alleged incident.

Joe Hundley, 60, from Hayden, Idaho, was charged with assault after he allegedly hit the 19-month-old boy who had started to cry during the airplane’s descent, NBC station KARE reported.

According to court documents, the child’s mother Jessica Bennett alleges Hundley leaned over and said, "Shut that [N-word] baby up!" before slapping the child. This caused him to bleed and cry even harder, his mother told KARE.

The Boise Weekly reported that Bennett's story was supported by another passenger who was aboard the Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta on Feb. 8. That could not be independently confirmed by NBC News.

Hundley is no longer working for Idaho-based aircraft component manufacturer, Unitech.

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