(Image Source: TheSmokingGun )   BY CANDICE AVILES   An Idaho man is charged with simple assault after allegedly slapping a crying baby on a plane and telling the mother to “shut that... baby up.” The Smoking Gun broke the story, reporting the child started crying as the aircraft was landing at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. That’s when 60-year-old Joe Hundley allegedly told the mother to shut the baby up, used a racial slur and slapped the 19-month-old boy. CNN reports court documents say the boy got scratched below his right eye. It also notes, “the charge of simple assault on someone under age 16 carries a prison sentence of one year.” According to WXIA , Hundley denied the charges but witnesses provide a different story. One passenger, Todd Wotten, “heard derogatory language coming from the rear of the aircraft... he saw Joe Rickey Hundley strike (the boy).” It’s still unclear how the incident unfolded, but The Daily Mail provided more details as to what happened before the alleged assault. “Hundley said he was traveling to Atlanta to visit a hospitalized relative, described his emotional state as ‘distraught’ and that he had one alcoholic drink on the aircraft.” However, the mother of the child, Jessica Bennett, said, “he ‘reeked of alcohol, was ‘stumbling around wasted’ and he consumed several double vodkas during the flight.” Hundley is president of an aircraft parts manufacturer in Idaho. He has since been suspended from his job.