Steven Slater, JetBlue Flight Attendant Who Famously Jumped Down Plane's Emergency Slide, Reported Missing
Steven Slater — the JetBlue flight attendant who went viral in 2010 after he exited a plane via the evacuation slide — has been reported missing by friends.
The Chula Vista Police Department tells The Blast that they were contacted on Tuesday by someone from New York to report Slater was missing.
The person said that Slater had posted on social media that he had moved to Tijuana and no one had heard from him since he said he was going to visit a monument.
It is unclear why the person who was reporting Slater missing decided to contact Chula Vista because Slater had no connection to the town.
The officer took a missing person report and entered it into the National Missing Persons Database so if Slater crosses the border again, they will be notified.
Police are currently creating a flier with Slater's picture to be sent to Mexican authorities for circulation.
According to our sources, friends and family have been unable to locate Slater for several days and have had a hard time contacting anyone who has been close with him as of late.
Slater made headlines in 2010 during a flight from Pittsburgh to New York City. Upon landing at JFK Airport, Slater announced on the plane's public address system that he had been abused by a passenger.
He then grabbed two beers, activated the emergency inflatable slide, and exited the plane.
Slater was arrested and charged with two counts of criminal mischief, two counts of reckless endangerment and criminal trespassing in the third degree.
He eventually reached a plea deal and was sentenced to a year of probation on a charge of attempted fourth-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor.
Slater was also ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to JetBlue, which was the price at the time to repair or replace the emergency evacuation chute he used to exit the plane.
The Washington Post caught up with Slater in 2017 after his story was compared to that of a Twitter employee who, on their last day of work, deactivated President Trump's Twitter account.
He talked about the JetBlue incident and compared it to an out-of-body experience.
“In some respects, it was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m doing this.’ And then the next thing I know, I was on the tarmac,” he told the Post. “‘What the hell? What did I just do?’ I remember standing on the tarmac on the sun and it was just so warm. I thought, ‘Ahh, I can exhale. But how did this happen?’”
