By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Folk hero and recently freed JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater is soaking up the spotlight and the support of his family.
Slater, 39, was arrested on Monday after lashing out at a female passenger and then exiting the aircraft by means of the inflatable emergency chute.
"Nobody should be abusing anybody, and I understand why he snapped," Slater’s mother, 75-year-old former flight attendant Diane Slater, told the New York Post from her home in California.
Slater reportedly told the female passenger she could not open the overhead luggage compartment while the plane was taxiing. She ignored him and told him to "f--- off," according to several news reports.
"I would have snapped, too," Slater's mother added. "In fact, I probably would have snapped more."
Slater's ex-wife, Cynthia Niethamer, said that now that his career as a flight attendant is over, Slater may get into fashion, the New York Post reported.
"He'd love his own fashion line. He's a brilliant merchandiser," Niethamer told the Post.
She also said that Slater was actually a very "patient" man, saying of the passenger he lashed out at, "this woman is lucky it wasn't someone else," the Post reported.
Slater was arrested Monday and charged with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and criminal trespass in a Queens criminal court.
After being released from prison on $2,500 bail on Tuesday evening, Slater seemed pleased with the attention he and his story had garnered while he was locked up.
"I knew there was a brouhaha about this, but while I was on the inside I didn't realize how much attention it got," the New York Daily News reported Slater as saying after leaving Rikers Island's Vernon C. Bain Center in the Bronx.
“I think something about this resonated with people. The outpouring of support is very appreciated. I'm overwhelmed, very thankful," he added.
Slater has become something of an Internet hero since the incident occurred at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday afternoon.
Just before 8:20 a.m. on Wednesday, Slater’s fans on a Facebook page created in the flight attendant’s honor hit the 100,000 mark. As of 1 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, the fan count was just over 23,000.
Slater was last seen going into an Upper East Side apartment building on Tuesday night, NY1 reported.
