Company suspends man charged with slapping toddler
NewsCentral Staff
Story Created:
Feb 17, 2013 at 3:07 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Feb 17, 2013 at 3:08 PM EDT
ATLANTA (AP) - The employer of a 60-year-old Idaho executive says it has suspended the man after authorities charged him with slapping a 2-year-old boy aboard a flight to Atlanta.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the parent company of Unitech Composites and Structures in Hayden, Idaho, confirmed Saturday that its president, Joe Rickey Hundley, was suspended pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.
Al Haase, president and CEO of parent company AGC Aerospace and Defense, Composite Group, said in a statement the company is "taking this matter seriously."
Hundley was charged with simple assault after Jessica Bennett of Minneapolis told authorities he slapped her crying boy in the face and used a racial slur.
Hundley's attorney, Marcia Shein, said Friday that "it is important to let the case develop."
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Minneapolis mother of a boy allegedly slapped by a passenger aboard an Atlanta-bound flight says the toddler has now become apprehensive of strangers.
Jessica Bennett told authorities that Joe Hundley slapped her 2-year-old boy in the face and called him a racial slur when the child was crying on a flight from Minneapolis on Feb. 8.
In a statement provided to KARE-TV, Bennett says the family has a lot of questions about how the 60-year-old passenger could get so out of control. She says it's caused emotional trauma to the entire family.
Hundley faces a federal charge of simple assault. Hundley's attorney, Marcia Shein, said Saturday he will plead not guilty.
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Information from: KARE-TV, http://www.kare11.com
