Selma Blair Accused of Assaulting Nurse at New York Hospital After Flight Arrest

Image sources: Super Festivals / CC BY 2.0 (modified), Jamaica Hospital

Updated October 13, 2026: This article has been updated with the outcome of Blair’s arraignment. We will continue to update it as more information becomes available.

Actress Selma Blair was taken into custody Sunday night at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport after Port Authority police responded to a report of a physically abusive passenger aboard her Delta flight from Los Angeles. Two flight attendants reported injuries.

Most coverage since has focused on what happened aboard the plane, but one of the people Blair is accused of attacking that night was a nurse.

After she was taken into custody, Blair was brought to Jamaica Hospital in Queens, where she allegedly assaulted a nurse, a law enforcement source told CBS New York. The nurse has pressed charges, law enforcement sources told TMZ, and court records show Blair faces two felony counts of second-degree assault, to which she has pleaded not guilty.

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What Happened on the Flight and at the Hospital?

Port Authority police responded around 11 p.m. on Sunday, October 11, to a call about a physically abusive passenger aboard Delta flight 938 from Los Angeles after it arrived at JFK, the agency said in a statement reported by Fox News. Two flight attendants reported injuries, and one was taken to a hospital. The FBI is investigating the incident on the plane.

Police took Blair into custody and transported her to the hospital for evaluation. While in the ambulance, she allegedly kicked a Port Authority police officer, and after arriving at the hospital, she allegedly assaulted the nurse, according to the CBS New York source.

A source in the Queens District Attorney’s office told CBS New York that Blair was released from the hospital and taken to Queens Central Booking. Court records show she faces two counts of second-degree assault, a felony, under the section of New York law that covers assaults on nurses, police officers, and other workers performing their duties. 

At her arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on Monday, she pleaded not guilty to both counts, according to court records. Bail was set at $20,000 cash or $60,000 bond and was posted, and her next court date is January 19, 2027.

A representative for Blair said in a statement that “Selma experienced a medical emergency that led to the alleged conduct.”

The nurse has not been publicly identified.

Blair is an actress known for roles in “Cruel Intentions,” “Legally Blonde,” and the “Hellboy” films. In 2016, she was removed from a Delta flight on a stretcher after an outburst, and she later apologized, saying she had mixed alcohol with medication. Reports at the time did not describe an assault.

In Nurse.org’s 2026 State of Nursing Survey, more than 1 in 4 nurses said they had been physically assaulted at work in the past year. Most did not report it, and among those who did, the most common outcome was that nothing happened. That makes the nurse’s reported decision to press charges in this case stand out.

It is the second assault on a New York nurse Nurse.org has covered in recent weeks. In September, police say a man used the stethoscope around a nurse’s neck to strangle them in the emergency department at Auburn Community Hospital.

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New York is one of 22 states where Nurse.org’s Nurse Safety Laws review of all 50 states and Washington, DC, found that assaulting a nurse can become a felony under certain conditions. In New York, causing physical injury to a nurse, with intent to prevent the nurse from performing their duties, is second-degree assault, a felony. Court records show both counts against Blair were filed under that provision, which also covers police officers.

New York’s new law requiring hospitals and nursing homes to create workplace violence prevention programs took effect on September 18. Hospitals have until September 2027 to establish those programs.

Being attacked while caring for patients is never part of the job, whoever the patient is. Nurses are often the first people a patient in crisis encounters, and they deserve to be safe while they help.

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🤔 If you were assaulted at work, would you press charges? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments below.