Investigators are “definitely leaning toward” the idea that JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater’s claims about being assaulted by a passenger are bogus, city law-enforcement sources said yesterday.
Probers looking into the flaky flyboy’s famously hasty escape down an emergency chute at JFK last week say they don’t have any evidence backing his version of how he got a bloody cut on his forehead after allegedly feuding with a passenger, one source said.
“A significant number of people said he had the cut before he boarded the plane, and several other passengers said he was acting erratically on the flight,” the source said.
As The Post reported, at least one customer claimed Slater had bloodshot eyes.
Queens DA Richard Brown noted the “seriousness of the crime,” saying Slater’s deployment of the inflatable chute took the plane out of service, could have caused a serious injury to people below, and could have caused passengers to panic.
Slater refused to comment yesterday at his Queens home. His lawyer did not return calls.
At JFK, JetBlue crew refused to talk about their rogue compatriot.
JetBlue spokeswoman Jenny Dervin said the company reached out to Slater but hasn’t heard from him yet.
“We just want to know what happened,” she said.
Meanwhile, Slater, who grabbed two Blue Moon beers from the plane’s galley before his exit, can apparently forget a job as pitchman for the brew.
“We have not been asked nor do we plan to promote our brand in this manner for the sake of publicity,” the company told TMZ.com yesterday.
Additional reporting by Perry Chiaramonte and Cathy Burke