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Actor on NWA plane strikes a flight attendant and hits an officer

by Iva Skoch on Aug 7th 2008 at 7:00PM

After the issue with the wife of Joel Osteen, here comes another anger management case from the pressurized cabin.

A veteran character actor, E.D. Nixon Jr., was arrested for allegedly assaulting a flight attendant and a police officer at Memphis International Airport on Tuesday.

The 80-year-old actor, the son of a leading organizer in the Montgomery bus boycotts, is accused of striking a flight attendant on a Northwest Airlines plane and then hitting an officer.

Nixon was taken to the local hospital for treatment of high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar before being transported to jail in Memphis.

(He is being held on $1,000 bond, in case anyone is interested in bailing him out.)

Other crazy tales from the sky ...

Filed under: North America, United States, Airlines, Airports

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)

Bob Wilson Aug 8th 2008 8:30AM

Just consider the source. He figured since he is #1. old (80); #2. He could play the race card if need be #3. considers himself an actor (no one else does or has ever heard of him), he could get by with striking the stewardess, and on top of that he could hit a police officer! Good for the Memphis Police Dept. I hope they keep this throw back to ignorance and odd looks, locked up for decades. This pig romancer should stay in jail for a long time.

Bob Aug 8th 2008 11:08AM

Wrong Bob, the police released him and the judge dismissed all the bogus charges against him. This is what happens when you rely on one source for you news, you get it wrong.

RICHIE J. Aug 8th 2008 8:47AM

WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH THESE WANNA BES?????CANT YOU JUST GET ON THE DAMN PLANE SIT DOWN AND GET OFF WHEN YOU ARRIVED? WHY ALL THE BIG DEAL CONFRONTATION WITH THE HELP? JESUS. GET A GRIP ON YOURSELF AND IF YOU CAN;T ACT LIKE HUMAN BEINGS STAY THE HELL HOME!!!! GIVE ME A BREAK EVERY DAY ANOTHER RECTUUM WITH BAD BEHAVIOR... RICHIE.

Gary Aug 8th 2008 8:52AM

Samo-Samo! I'll repeat what I've said before about these things: Aboard a commercial flight in China, a crazy fool tried to hijack the plane with some sort of home-made weapon. The passengers tackled the guy & subdued him, had tyhe pilot lower the plane to a safe altitude, where they opened the door and flung the fool out of the plane to death. Now that's what I call Taking responsibilty!

Shirl Aug 8th 2008 8:54AM

He will probably get out of the charge. I have family members with sugar problems and understand that some times they do sort of lose control. NOT and excuse but it does happen. He should have realized that his sugar was messed up and asked for something to help with it or like most people with sugar problems. Keep something with you. My son has low blood sugar and he is in the army serving in Iraq. He is never without something to help when his sugar goes out of whack.

David Aug 8th 2008 9:00AM

He was taken to a local hospital and if his blood pressure and blood sugar levels were too high this could lead to his being out of control, the beauty of living in America is that we can let the doctors and the court decide if he was mean or sick. Blood thirsty American blogger want to jump to conclusions because they are bigots full of hate for one another.

frankr4century21 Aug 8th 2008 9:15AM

nlet me guess, he was being"discriminated" against?

Father Richard Byrne S.J. Aug 8th 2008 9:20AM

He picked the wrong police to mess with.

Steve Aug 8th 2008 9:26AM

NWA??? wasn't that the name of a rap group in the 80's/90's....
Ni**** with an attitude.

Maybe that's why he had an attitude.

gearaholic Aug 8th 2008 9:52AM

Anger management my hiney...Airlines employees are the most arrogant and snotty people you can encounter. They know they are protected to the hilt in everyway and are smart a sse s and rude a lot of the time. Some need a good butt whipping to wake them up.

Onlooker Aug 8th 2008 3:09PM

Your are absolutly correct. The airlines have become very unfriendly and the skyhelpers are as arrogant as ever. Just recently my daughter (Black) was on an airline with her 5 year daughter. A gentlemen (latino) was asked to give up his paid set so a family could be seated together. In return they wanted my daughter to give up her 5 year daught seat so the gentlemen could set down. They theaten my threaten to put my daughter off the plan saying she had a bad attitude because she refused. Remind you there were plenty of vacant seats this gentlemen could have sat in. What airlines or caring person would put a 5 year old out of their seat?

So tell me you nieve ignorant bloghead people what cards do you play?

gearaholic Aug 8th 2008 3:28PM

Respect does not care about race...its colorblind and should be afforded to all...regardless. I can understand if VOsteen got upset if should couldn't sit down in the $1000 seat she has already paid for when the attendent didn't want to clean it for her...it sounds like she called for Skycap to send a cleaning person to do it instead of taking a towel and wiping it herself...It would upset me too if I had to stand around and wait on someone to come do that.

The Airlines should understand if they are going to demand top $$ for a ticket...a bit of customer service might be required in return. But their attitude is that they are entitled to act that way because? Why...because they already have your money...and 911 has made all legal entities so sensitive to their fears...We're not talking about an Arab with a bomb here...we're talking about a lady with stuff in her seat...Deal with it.

ann Aug 8th 2008 5:09PM

you have never been on the plane. I am sure your welfare check wouldn't cover the price. Or maybe you did get on a flight once and you assumed the flight attendant's job was to suck your little pecker and when they didn't you decided all those nasty things about us.

gearaholic Aug 8th 2008 5:22PM

Nice comment Ann...kinda proved my point...Now there are exceptions and I apologize if I lumped you into the group you don't belong in..as I assume you're employed as a Flight Attendant...

But having flown for years playing ball...and for over 15 years as an Exec, not in 1st class but in coach like everyone else...and logging over 1 million miles traveled on my fflier account, I would probably say that I've been on a plane.

And again, I apologize for painting everyone into the picture. But I am extremely patient and extremely polite...and extremely large man. I consistently met people that are uncaring and extremely hostile with a chip on their shoulder in the industry. I know it's a thankless job in some respect...but understand that my crititque might be more pointed at the industry in general. Management might be able to alleviate some of the stress that FAs seem to be under.

Marilyn Aug 8th 2008 10:00AM

Let us now make a new rule that if you are a diabetic, you must have a note from your Dr. that you are able to fly and behave in a civil manner.
Keep the sob in jail.

celticwolfsrage Aug 10th 2008 6:38PM

Marilyn, if they do that, how long before they make women bring a note saying they're not PMS'ing that week? I'm a woman AND a diabetic. You can't control when high sugar hits, no matter how good you are about taking your meds or exercising. Obviously you don't know enough about diabetes. Diabetics can't always help what moods they have and the older they get, the more touchy their blood sugar becomes. They also have to deal with a lot of other problems that you have no idea about.

Who's to say this old man was in the wrong? We don't even know why he got upset in the first place. Isn't it strange that the airlines keep having these kinds of problems...lately...when a few years ago you rarely heard of any problems between passengers and the airlines? Consider the source, then think about how much arrogance is coming out of the workers for airlines these days. SOME might be pretty cool, but there are a few bad apples who think they are God because they have the power to screw with people......and then they do it! Kicking a mom and baby off of the plane because the kid was saying "Bye Bye plane" was ridiculous...making a handicapped person crawl off of a plane was cruel. Who knows what they did to this old man, but to my mind they are suspect.