White flight attendant faces assault charge after calling black passengers 'you people,' pushing away phone during confrontation

A flight attendant is facing assault charges after she swatted away someone's phone who walked up to her accusing her of "racist, unprovoked behavior."

Jean Riegelman, of Red Wing, Minnesota, is facing a second-degree assault charge after she was seen on video swatting away the phone of a woman who shoved her phone in Riegelman's face and accused the flight attendant of calling black people "you people."

Lauren Price, who has accused Riegelman of racism, told reporters that she was with nine children from a flag football team on their parents' flight back to Baltimore/Washington International Airport when she was approached by Riegelman. She alleged that Riegelman told her to move out of the extra seats that were purchased by the group. She claimed that Riegelman, who is white, called the group of black passengers "you people" when she asked them to comply with the request, per the Capital Gazette. 

Price said that her father told the flight attendant not to speak to his daughter that way, and then Price as well as her father were asked to leave the plane. “It was very unsettling, very traumatizing, to be treated that way,” Price said. “It is very inhumane. It was racially motivated and [Riegelman] just felt so comfortable doing it.”

However, Price's husband and twin sister, Ashtyn Whitaker, were still on the plane with the kids.

In a video that has since gone viral, Whitaker approached Riegelman as they deplaned, and said, "This is Jean the flight attendant who likes to call black people 'you people.'"

As Whitaker approached Riegelman, the flight attendant was seen swatting the phone away, and she said that Price was not supposed to be taking pictures.

When asked about the confrontation, Whitaker claimed that the flight attendant "hit" her while going off the plane, despite shoving the phone in the flight attendant's face.

“For someone to just hold such a vandal, that would react that way to me, and hit me getting off the plane, I just could not stop thinking about it,” she said. Whitaker filed assault charges on Tuesday.

“[She] assaulted me by hitting my hand,” the application for charges read. “She displayed racist, unprovoked behavior.”