A flight attendant, upset because a passenger refused to apologize after accidentally striking him with luggage, allegedly spewed obscenities over an airplane's PA system and then activated and slid down the emergency escape chute before disappearing into a terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport Monday, an airport official said.

Shortly after JetBlue Flight 1052 from Pittsburgh taxied to a stop at Terminal 5, Gate C around noon on Monday, flight attendant Steven Slater, 38 years old, was struck in the head with the luggage a passenger...