By Danielle Broadway and Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES, Oct 16 (Reuters) – A representative for Selma Blair, who was arrested this week and charged with assault for actions on a US Delta Air Lines flight, said on Friday the actor did not intend to harm anyone or open an aircraft door.
A statement issued by her publicist repeated comments from earlier this week that Blair, who has multiple sclerosis, suffered a medical emergency on the flight from Los Angeles to New York. Blair did not try to open a door on the plane as some media outlets reported, the statement said.
“There was no attempt to open the door of the aircraft. Selma did not intend to harm anyone,” the statement said.
Blair pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of assaulting a police officer involved in her arrest at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and a nurse at the hospital where she was taken afterward.
Police met the plane when it landed after reports of a “physically abusive passenger” who was identified as Blair, according to a statement from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s police department. Two flight attendants reported injuries and one of them was taken to a hospital, police said.
Blair, 54, is known for roles in “Cruel Intentions” and “Hellboy.” She has spoken publicly about being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018.
The statement by Blair’s representative said Blair has a neurological condition known as pseudobulbar affect, “which bears directly on how a medical episode presents to people who do not know her.”
“There is much more to this story than has been reported, and we ask to consider the entirety of the facts before rushing to judgment, whether in the courtroom or in the court of public opinion,” Blair’s representatives said.
(Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Rod Nickel)
