Crime & Justice

Chris Christie’s Niece Charged in Booze-Fueled Airplane Scrap

‘I KNOW DONALD TRUMP’

Shannon Epstein allegedly said “Do you know who I am?” as she bit and kicked deputies trying to detain her.

Chris Christie speaks at the third Republican candidates’ U.S. presidential debate of the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign hosted by NBC News at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida, U.S., November 8, 2023.
Mike Segar/Reuters

The niece of GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie was charged Monday over an alleged drunken meltdown as she was kicked off a flight. Shannon Epstein, 26, was charged with one felony resisting police by force and two misdemeanor counts of disturbing the peace by public intoxication in connection with the incident on Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, 2022. The saga began aboard a Spirit Airlines plane as it taxied to the runway at New Orleans International Airport, according to Nola.com, when Epstein allegedly asked a Hispanic family seated nearby if they were smuggling cocaine. After being booted off the aircraft, Epstein allegedly screamed at airline employees and refused to leave the jet bridge. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said it eventually took seven deputies to restrain Epstein, who had to be strapped to a wheelchair. She allegedly bit, spat at, and kicked the deputies as she ranted about knowing Donald Trump, threatening the deputies’ jobs, and saying: “Do you know who I am? I’m Chris Christie’s daughter, and you’re so fucked.”

Read it at Nola.com