Man Reportedly Slaps 2-Year-Old Boy, Calls Him N-Word, For Crying On Del

Flying the friendly skies on Delta Airline really aren’t that friendly. Allegedly, an unbelievable incident took place involving a 19-month-old child who cried during a flight. CNN reports that on February 8th, an Idaho man, named Joe Rickey Hundley, was accused of uttering a racial slur and slapping a crying 19-month-old on a Delta flight. Here’s what allegedly happened: The boy’s mother, Jessica Bennett, 33, of Minnesota and her son were seated in row 28, seat B, on Delta Flight 721 that originated in Minneapolis. As the plane began its descent into Atlanta, the boy began to cry because of the altitude change and his mother tried to soothe him. Then Joe, who was seated next to the mother and son, allegedly told her to

“shut that (‘N word’) baby up.”

Joe then turned around and slapped the child in the face with an open hand, which caused him to scream even louder, an FBI affidavit said. Reportedly, the boy suffered a scratch below his right eye. The child’s mother told CNN:

“I could not believe that he would say something like that and to a baby or about a baby and then to hit him was just, I felt like I was in another world. I was shaking.”

Meanwhile, Joe’s employee, AGC Aerospace & Defense released a statement about the incident:

“Reports of the recent behavior of one of our business unit executives while on personal travel are offensive and disturbing. We have taken this matter very seriously and worked diligently to examine it since learning of the matter on Friday afternoon. As of Sunday, the executive is no longer employed with the company.”

This isn’t Joe’s (the alleged child slapper) first time getting physical. According to court records, in 2007, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge filed in Virginia. And now, he has been charged with assaulting a minor. The charge of simple assault on someone under age 16 carries a prison sentence of one year. Stay tuned.  P.S. If this story is true, are we surprised at all that something of this magnitude happened in  2013? And what is an appropriate sentence?