JetBlue Flight Diverted Over Unruly Passenger

CHANTILLY, Va. - JetBlue Airways says a flight from Boston to the Dominican Republic had to land in the Washington, D.C., area because of an unruly passenger.

The company says in a statement that Flight 691 was diverted to Washington-Dulles International Airport on Friday afternoon because of what it described as an unruly customer.

The Transportation Safety Administration and local law enforcement were notified and took the passenger into custody.  No one was hurt and the flight continued on to Santo Domingo just before 2 p.m.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority says he did not know why the flight had been diverted.

This comes several days after a JetBlue flight attendant famously cursed over the public address system at JFK Airport and left the plane on an emergency slide.

Steven Slater claims that it happened after a verbal altercation with a passenger but other people on the plane have disputed that claim and said that Slater was actually rude to them.

America's latest folk hero would only say that all the attention is a bit much.  Slater said he had only done what many would like to do: Tell their boss to take this job and "escape hatch it."

Cynthia Susanne, Slater's ex-wife, told Good Morning America on Thursday that he was a consummate flight attendant who would always act in the most appropriate manner.

Susanne said she does not believe some passengers' suggestions that Slater started the confrontation.

In California, Slater's mother said her son was justified.

"He had a very small meltdown," she said. "I think he deserves to be able to have that meltdown."

Slater is due back in court September 7, 2010.