I read somewhere else that they were on approach to BOI when it happened...and the man is claiming he simply "tapped" the boy...which is still assault.

My rush to judgment shoot from the hip assumption here is that the older guy was a kettle who just lost a bunch of money in LAS...he was deathly scared the iPhone that wasn't powered down might adversely affect the landing. And the teen simply did not hear the FA's announcements.

Full disclosure: I've been known to doze off after my Jack and Ginger and not wake up until the thud of wheels down...Neil Giraldo's guitar still wailing away on my iPod.