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Hundley pleads not guilty, admits using racial slur

Joe Rickey Hundley, 60, president of UNITECH Composites and Structures in Hayden, allegedly slapped the 2-year-old boy during a Delta Airlines flight from Minneapolis on Feb. 8, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Joe Rickey Hundley, 60, president of UNITECH Composites and Structures in Hayden, allegedly slapped the 2-year-old boy during a Delta Airlines flight from Minneapolis on Feb. 8, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court. (Kathy Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)
ATLANTA — A man accused of slapping a toddler on an Atlanta-bound flight and using a racial slur has pleaded not guilty to assault in federal court. Joe Rickey Hundley, of Hayden, appeared in court Wednesday. Authorities say he used racial slur when telling a fellow passenger to quiet her baby and slapped the child. The incident unfolded Feb. 8 aboard a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis. Hundley’s attorney, Marcia Shein, said the 60-year-old man has admitted to using the racial slur. She told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Hundley was traveling to Atlanta to take his only child off of life support after his son overdosed on insulin. She said Hundley was distraught during the flight. Hundley is scheduled to appear again in court April 9.