Two passengers arrested after razor and pepper spray fight on JetBlue flight

August 26, 2015 by ELLEN YAN / ellen.yan@newsday.com

Two plane passengers were arrested Wednesday morning at Kennedy Airport after a razor and pepper spray fight that started when one of them tried to "climb over" the other as the jet reached the gate, the Port Authority said.

Jean Ballentine, 61, who was on the JetBlue flight from Jamaica, was trying to leave her Row 21 window seat when the woman in the middle seat "pushed" her off, said Joseph Pentangelo, spokesman for the Port Authority.

Ballentine then punched the other woman, Mary Cannady, 52, in the face, and when a man seated across the aisle intervened, Ballentine slashed him in the elbow with an eyebrow razor, authorities said.

At that point, Cannady got a small can of pepper spray from her pocketbook and squirted the eye-and-skin irritant onto Ballentine, Pentangelo said. Eyebrow razors and pepper spray are not permitted on JetBlue flights.

The fight forced the pilot to open the cabin door and order Ballentine escorted off the plane, the spokesman said.

All the injuries in the attack were minor, officials said.

Ballentine, of Brooklyn, was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Queens Criminal Court on charges of assault and criminal possession of a weapon, officials said. Cannady, of Linden, New Jersey, was issued a citation for unlawful possession of tear gas, a New York City code violation, authorities said.

Six other people were treated at the airport for pepper spray exposure, officials said.

Two people were treated and released from Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, a woman who had trouble breathing and the man who intervened and got a minor cut on his elbow, Pentangelo said.

The fight happened about 8:45 a.m. on JetBlue Flight 960, which had 179 passengers and a crew of six, Port Authority officials said.

All on board were detained in the customs baggage area and interviewed by Port Authority police, Pentangelo said. The cabin was searched by police, he said, a police detail was also in the plane as a JetBlue crew cleaned the cabin.

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