Selma Blair appeared in a Queens courtroom after a Delta flight into New York ended with police on board. The 54-year-old actress heard the charges against her and entered a plea. Her lawyer then gave the court his account of the night.
According to CNN, Blair pleaded not guilty to two state assault charges. The judge released her on $20,000 bail. Attorney Shawn Barnes told the judge she had been in “a state of severe confusion” during the episode. He said she boarded after long hours on set, fell, hit her head on the plane, and missed her medication. “We do not believe, your honor, that this is an intentional assault,” Barnes said, according to a pool feed of the hearing.
The trouble began on Delta flight 938 from Los Angeles to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Port Authority police and the FBI went to the gate late Sunday after a report of a physically abusive passenger. A law enforcement official said one flight attendant was bitten and a second was cut. Officers used plastic restraints, the official said.
Selma Blair’s flight incident
Air traffic control audio, recorded by the ATC.com app, shows the early picture was unclear. One call asked for medics for two crew members. A later message described “a bloody nose as well as some bite marks” and said the passenger may have “bashed her head on the bulkhead.”
The two state charges stem from allegations that she kicked a Port Authority officer and a nurse. Prosecutors say she freed her leg from the stretcher straps and kicked an officer in the head and chest. The officer had facial swelling and arm pain. At the hospital, she allegedly kicked a nurse in the chest. The judge issued an order of protection for the nurse.
The flight incident is also the subject of a separate federal matter. A law enforcement source said that the FBI had issued a summons charging Blair with assault over her actions aboard the aircraft. The FBI’s New York field office said it does “not comment on ongoing investigations.”
Delta said it “has zero tolerance for unruly or unlawful behavior, as the safety of our customers and crew always comes first.” The airline added that law enforcement met the plane on arrival.
Blair had a packed schedule. She posted an Instagram video the same day that traced her recent trips. “From LA to New Mexico to La to nyc to LA,” she wrote. “Scout and I have been busy.” An official said she was traveling with her service dog.
Barnes also pointed to her health. Blair was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018, and she has spoken openly about living with it. Barnes said she also has a Parkinsonism diagnosis, a group of movement symptoms marked by tremors and stiffness.
This is not her first run-in with authorities over behavior on a plane. In 2016, she was removed from a Cancun to Los Angeles flight on a stretcher and hospitalized. She later told Vanity Fair the episode was “a big mistake.” She said mixing alcohol with her medication had caused her “to black out and led me to say and do things that I deeply regret.”
Blair has described sobriety in her 2022 memoir, “Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up.” The 2016 case and this one have different explanations on the record so far. She is due back in court on January 19. A prosecutor said she could face two to seven years in jail if convicted on the state charges.
Published: Oct 14, 2026 02:30 pm