Heidi Hamilton talks Cuba Gooding Jr. charges dropped and Air Canada passenger nightmare

CUBA GOODING JR. Drop the Charges ..MY ACCUSER HAS 'WARPED MENTAL STATE'

Cuba Gooding Jr. says his accuser's own words show she has a "warped mental state" ... and, therefore, the D.A. should drop the charges against him for the alleged groping incident, according to TMZ.

Cuba's attorneys, Mark Heller and Peter Toumbekis, filed a motion to dismiss that featured several quotes from the accuser discussing her mental health. Cuba's team says the quotes were taken from a blog -- and Cuba himself says he's seen enough.

He says ... "After reading and reviewing the motion to dismiss in the interest of justice, I was deeply surprised that the prosecutors office didn't evaluate this woman's history before undertaking to prosecute me in light of her warped mental state as revealed by her blog."

The blog posts, allegedly from the accuser, include lines like, "I got diagnosed with depression, ADHD, Anxiety Disorder, and PTSD and basically learned that my brain was one big fat mass." Another line reads, "I am quite prideful. I must win."

And, perhaps the most damning and relative one says, "In a world of extensions and fake boobs, my short haircut paired with my moderate breast size makes me feel invisible. Some people are scared of others and want nothing more than to be invisible. I am not that type of person. I am starting to be seen."

The Oscar winner's motion to dismiss, filed Friday, also leaned into what his lawyers believe are factual inconsistencies on the part of the accuser -- getting her story mixed up, different time accounts, and a lack of conclusive video evidence, as well as an alleged screw up in the way NYPD investigated the matter.

For all these reasons, Cuba and co. say the charges should be dropped and he should be fully exonerated, 'cause they feel the evidence just doesn't add up to what she's claiming.

The judge hasn't ruled on the motion to dismiss yet ... a hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, and Cuba seems optimistic.

He tells us, "I am now more than ever hopeful and confident that the justice system will rise to the occasion on Wednesday and drop these charges to protect an individual such as myself who has been wrongly accused without the benefit of the police doing their due diligence to ascertain if it was appropriate to drag me through the system based on such unsubstantiated claims."


Air Canada Passenger Wakes Up Locked in Empty, Dark Plane After Falling Asleep Mid-Flight

A passenger who was getting some shut eye on a recent Air Canada flight woke up to find herself in a nightmare scenario.

Tiffani O'Brien was traveling from Quebec City to Toronto after a weekend trip, when she fell asleep mid-flight. When she woke up hours later still buckled in her seat, she says she was completely alone and the plane was "freezing cold" and "pitch black," according to a Facebook post shared by a woman who identifies herself as O'Brien's friend.

"I got super comfy reading my book, happy I scored my row all to myself (flight was about 1/4 full). I fell asleep probably less than halfway through my short 1.5 hour flight. I wake up around midnight (few hours after flight landed) freezing cold still strapped in my seat in complete darkness (I'm talking pitch black)," O'Brien wrote in a comment posted to Air Canada's page by her friend Deanna Noel-Dale, who she had been visiting in Quebec and who shared the full story on her behalf (identifying O'Brien as Tiffani Adams).

"When my seat [is] an inch back or my tray down flight crew take notice but yet you missed a person still strapped into her seat and all go on home?!?!" she wrote.

A representative for Air Canada tells says the airline is "still reviewing this matter" and has "no additional details to share, but we have followed up with the customer and remain in contact with her."
She also notes that she has an "anxiety disorder" that exacerbated the frightening ordeal. "I can tell you how terrifying this was."

"I'm trying to focus on my breathing and control my panic attack while I attempt to charge my phone by plugging it into every USB port I could find," she wrote. "No luck bc when they shut the aircraft down there is no power whatsoever. I'm full on panicking bc I want off this nightmare asap."
O'Brien then said she made her way up the cockpit where she attempted to use the plane's communication system, but the radio and walkie talkies didn't work. Eventually she found a flashlight and tried to use it to signal for help.

"I'm making some flashy sos signals out the windows hoping someone sees me," she wrote.
Using the flashlight, she claims she was able to get the main cabin door open, only to find herself 40 to 50 feet above the ground.

She writes that she was hanging out of the door trying to get the airport ground crew's attention. Finally, after "literally dangling" her legs out of the plane, she saw a crew member on a luggage cart driving toward her.

O'Brien said she was then able to use a ladder to climb down, and was met by Air Canada representatives, who offered her a limo and a hotel, but she says she declined both because she wanted to go home and had work in the morning.

Air Canada responded to the Facebook post, writing that they were "very concerned" and promising to "look into it," according to the Associated Press. The post has received more than 800 comments as of midday Monday.