Unsettled Christianity

Passengers back Osteen, say they saw no assault

By JUAN A. LOZANO – 57 minutes ago

HOUSTON (AP) — Passengers and a pilot testified Wednesday they never saw or heard anything that indicated the wife of megachurch evangelist pastor Joel Osteen assaulted a flight attendant before the start of a 2005 flight.

Continental Airlines flight attendant Sharon Brown said in her lawsuit that Victoria Osteen yelled at her, threw her against a bathroom door and elbowed her while attempting to rush into the cockpit after a spill on the armrest of her first-class seat wasn’t quickly cleaned up. Brown claims she suffered physical and psychological injuries.

However, three first-class passengers on the plane testified Wednesday that they never saw or heard anything to indicate that Victoria Osteen assaulted Brown before the start of the flight from Houston to Vail, Colo.

“There wasn’t anything that occurred that she could be suing over,” said Laura Knoppe, who was sitting in the first row of first-class seats, closest to where Brown said the attack took place.

Knoppe, who was called by Victoria Osteen’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, said she never heard Osteen yelling or screaming.

Another passenger, Barbara Shedden, who had been called by Brown’s attorney, described the interaction between Brown and Victoria Osteen as “just a power of the wills. It was very authoritative on both parts.”

Shedden said Victoria Osteen was out of line by standing in the aisle while she waited for the spill to be cleaned up, but testified she doubted an attack took place.

A third passenger, James Steele, said he never heard any yelling or sounds of a physical altercation.

The pilot, William Burnett, testified he saw “nobody fighting the flight attendants.”

But Brown’s attorney, Reginald McKamie, told jurors that in an August 2007 deposition Burnett claimed he saw Brown and another flight attendant standing shoulder to shoulder outside the cockpit, which made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“You had a duty as the captain of this plane to call the police and you didn’t do it?” McKamie said in court.

“I didn’t see a threat,” Burnett said.

Both Victoria Osteen and Joel Osteen, who was on the same flight, testified last week that no attack took place.

Earlier Wednesday, Brown’s attorney, Reginald McKamie, rested his case.

Brown is asking for an apology and 10 percent of Victoria Osteen’s net worth. Osteen’s lawyers would not discuss her finances, so it was unclear how much 10 percent would be.

The Osteens paid a $3,000 fine the Federal Aviation Administration levied against Victoria Osteen for interfering with a crew member but testified they did that to put the incident behind them.

They are co-pastors of Houston’s Lakewood Church, which draws about 42,000 people each week. His weekly television address is broadcast internationally and his books are sold around the globe.