Actress Selma Blair was arrested after a Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles landed at New York's JFK Airport on Sunday night, following an alleged assault on the crew, CBS New York reported. She was arraigned in Queens the next evening and pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree assault, and the FBI separately issued her a federal summons. Everything described below is alleged; she has been charged, not convicted.
Delta Flight 938 got to the gate ahead of schedule, according to ABC7 New York, and Delta said there was no operational impact. Two flight attendants were hurt and one went to the hospital, the Port Authority Police Department said. A law enforcement source told CBS that one was bitten and the other suffered a laceration, and that the crew had to restrain Blair for the rest of the flight. TMZ, citing its own sources, put it differently: that she punched one attendant and bit another.
Before landing, the pilot asked air traffic control for medical personnel at the gate. "A bloody nose as well as some bite marks," he said, according to audio captured on ATC.com, adding that the passenger "also bashed her head on the bulkhead or something like that." The pilot did not say whose nose was bloodied or who was bitten. CBS also reported, citing law enforcement sources, that Blair tried to open a cabin door. Neither ABC7 nor TMZ repeated that claim.
The two state charges cover only what allegedly happened after she left the plane, not the flight itself. Prosecutors say Blair kicked a Port Authority police officer while being moved from JFK into an ambulance, and then kicked a nurse at Jamaica Hospital. ABC7 reported that the officer, Maria Suarez, was allegedly kicked repeatedly in the face, neck and chest and reported swelling to the jaw, and that the nurse reported substantial chest pain. Both counts are charged under New York Penal Law 120.05(3), and the criminal complaint was filed in Queens.
A judge set bail at $20,000 cash, a $60,000 bond or a $60,000 partially secured bond, and scheduled the next state court date for Jan. 19, 2027.
The in-flight conduct itself has so far produced only a federal violation notice with no court date. A federal law enforcement source told CBS the FBI summons covers assault within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. ABC7 reported that it is answerable in the petty offenses court in Brooklyn federal court, that no appearance date has been set, and that the FBI and the FAA are both investigating.
Blair's side says the cause was medical. In a statement quoted by ABC7, her representative said "Selma experienced a medical emergency that led to the alleged conduct" and that she "is currently in stable condition." Her attorney told CBS the same without giving specifics. Blair, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018 and announced remission in 2021, was traveling with her service dog, a Labrador named Scout, which TMZ said her lawyer collected at JFK. Delta said it has "zero tolerance for unruly or unlawful behavior, as the safety of our customers and crew always comes first."
It is not the first time Blair's behavior on a Delta flight has made news. On June 20, 2016, she was taken off a Cancun-to-Los Angeles flight on a stretcher. The next day she told Vanity Fair that she had mixed alcohol with medication, which "caused me to black out and led me to say and do things that I deeply regret," and apologized "to all of the passengers and crew that I disturbed," as UPI reported at the time. CBS noted that her 2022 memoir includes a chapter, "Bite Me," about past occasions when she bit other celebrities while drinking.
Blair's film credits include "Cruel Intentions," "Legally Blonde" and "Hellboy," and she was a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars" in 2022.