Actress Selma Blair charged with assaults after flight disruption

The Legally Blonde actress faced two state charges of second-degree assault after allegedly kicking a police officer and a nurse while leaving John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on Sunday night. Blair was arraigned on Monday night for the assault charges, and her attorney entered not guilty pleas to both charges, the Queens County District Attorney’s Office told WORLD Tuesday. She is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Blair is known for her roles in 1999’s Cruel Intentions and 2002’s The Sweetest Thing, along with the Hellboy franchise throughout the early 2000s. Blair has been public about her struggle with multiple sclerosis since a 2018 diagnosis.

What exactly happened? Delta Airlines enforced a zero-tolerance policy for illegal and unruly behavior, as the safety of crew and passengers remained top priority, according to a Tuesday statement to WORLD. A Delta spokesperson confirmed to WORLD that the alleged incident took place on Delta flight 938 from Los Angeles to New York City on Sunday, and caused no operational impact on the flight.

According to air traffic control audio obtained by CBS, the Delta pilot asked medical personnel to attend to a flight attendant and a passenger injured during an alleged in-air altercation. He reported that the pair had minor injuries, including a bloody nose and bite marks. The pilot said the disruptive passenger bashed her head on the wall of the plane.

But the Queens County charges only cover assaults that Blair allegedly conducted after landing, when medical personnel and police transported the 54-year-old actress from the aircraft to an ambulance. A Port Authority Police officer was securing Blair to a medical stretcher when the actress repeatedly kicked the officer in the face, neck, and chest, according to the criminal filing. The assault left the officer with a swollen jaw and serious pain in the face, neck, and chest, for which the female officer was treated at a local hospital, the filing added.

Blair is alleged to have later kicked a nurse in the chest after arriving at the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in the early hours of Monday morning, according to the criminal affidavit. Blair is next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 19, 2027, according to the New York Court system portal.

Why doesn’t the New York filing include what happened on the plane? The FBI bore responsibility for investigating all assaults onboard aircraft, but refrained from commenting about the open investigation per Justice Department policy, according to a Tuesday statement to WORLD. The FBI became involved in the investigation after the Port Authority Police Department informed investigators of a potential assault aboard a flight that arrived at JFK Airport on Sunday, the FBI added.