(PatrioticPost.com)- According to authorities, a woman who asserted that she was related to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was responsible for the injuries sustained by six deputies after she was removed from a Spirit Airlines flight on Thanksgiving.
Shannon Epstein, 25, was asked to leave the flight that was headed to New Jersey at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans on the morning of November 24 after she asked a family seated near her, who she believed to be Latino, if they were “smuggling cocaine,” according to Captain Jason Rivarde of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Epstein refused to leave the jet bridge that connected the plane to the terminal gate and “became extremely combative,” according to Rivarde. She then began to fight with the Jefferson Parish deputies and injured six of them, including one that she bit on the arm and another that she kicked in the groin.
During the altercation, Epstein threatened the deputies that they would either be fired from their jobs or sent to jail due to the fact that she is connected to Chris Christie, who served as governor of New Jersey and was a close friend of former President Donald Trump.
The Times-Picayune has reported that Epstein is Christie’s niece.
Requests for comment from Christie, who was a candidate for president in 2016, have not received an immediate response.
As Epstein persisted in her attempts to bite the deputies, she was taken into custody and restrained in a wheelchair.
Spirit Airlines did not provide a response.
Epstein was charged with seven separate charges of assault on a law enforcement officer, as well as three different counts of disturbing the peace, one separate offense of resisting arrest by force, and one separate act of remaining after being forbidden to do so.
According to Rivarde, Epstein was able to post the required bail amount of $10,750 and was freed from the Jefferson Parish Correction Center on the same day.
At this point, it is unclear whether Epstein has retained legal representation for her next court case on January 23.
