Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s niece has been charged over a drunken brawl in a New Orleans airport that ended when she assaulted police officers.
Last year, 26-year-old Shannon Christie Epstein allegedly entered into a heated dispute when she accused fellow airplane passengers of running drugs.
Epstein was taken into custody when she drunkenly bit a deputy and kicked another in the groin, as Slay News reported at the time.
Six cops were reportedly injured during the incident.
According to local reports, prosecutors in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana have just filed charges over the incident.
Before deputies arrived, Epstein turned to a family that “she believed was Latino” and asked if they were smuggling cocaine.
It happened over Thanksgiving last year on a Spirit Airlines plane bound for New Jersey on the tarmac at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, according to Capt. Jason Rivarde of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Prosecutors filed charges on Monday, including two misdemeanor counts of disturbing the peace and felony resisting police with violence.
“She did willfully and unlawfully disturb the peace by appearing in an intoxicated condition in such a manner as would foreseeably disturb and alarm the public,” prosecutors alleged in court filings.
The Spirit crew turned the plane around and headed back to the gate, but Epstein allegedly refused to leave.
“When deputies initially made contact with her on the jet bridge, she became extremely combative,” he said.
“During her arrest, she injured 6 deputies, biting one and kicking another in the groin.”
Deputies ultimately strapped her to a wheelchair and rolled her away from the gate, despite alleged threats that she could have them fired.
“She repeatedly stated that they would lose their jobs or be arrested because of her familial relationships,” Rivarde said.
Christie is seeking the Republican presidential nomination for 2024.
He is one of four candidates expected to take the debate stage Wednesday evening.
Although Epstein is Christie’s niece, she allegedly claimed to be his daughter when telling deputies, “You will lose your job over this s—.”
“I know Donald Trump,” she added, according to nola.com, the local newspaper.
After she allegedly bit, kicked, spit on, and screamed at them, the deputies were not impressed.
Court records show Epstein had waived her right to appear at several hearings over the past year before charges were officially filed Monday.
The district attorney’s office said it does not comment on pending cases.
Epstein faces up to three years in prison if convicted on the resisting arrest charge.
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