Following an alleged act of air rage on a Delta flight from Barcelona en route to New York, jewelry designer Jennifer Lauren was charged with being intoxicated and abusive after the plane was diverted to Shannon, Ireland.
Upon being forced to land Monday afternoon at Shannon Airport for two hours, Lauren, who is Ralph Lauren’s niece, was arrested and was held in custody overnight at the Shannon Garda station. At the time of her arrest, the 41-year-old was “intoxicated and unruly,” a spokesman for the Shannon Garda said Tuesday.
With no courthouses in the immediate area, a hearing had to be held Tuesday in an event space in the Brian Boru pub. Her plea was expected to be heard at a second court hearing that was scheduled for today at the Killaloe District Court. A New York legal team flew to Shannon Tuesday to advise Lauren, according to the Irish newspaper The Independent. At press time, the spokesman for the Killaloe District Court did not respond to requests for comment.
Lauren faces three charges, the first being she was so intoxicated that she might endanger herself or the other 200-plus passengers. She has also been accused of acting in a manner that was likely to cause serious offense or annoyance to anyone on board the aircraft, after crew members had reproached her, according to the BBC. Lauren faces a count of breaching the peace by engaging in threatening, abusive or insulting behavior.
A Delta spokeswoman said Tuesday, “Delta confirms that…flight DL 477 from Barcelona to New York-JFK on Jan. 6 diverted to Shannon, Ireland, where a passenger was deplaned due to disruptive behavior. Delta has a zero-tolerance approach to abusive passengers, and the safety and security of our passengers and crew is Delta’s number-one priority.”
