COEUR d’ALENE — The former president of a Hayden manufacturing company accused of slapping a 2-year-old boy and calling him a racial slur on an airplane was arrested today and then released.

Joe Rickey (Rick) Hundley, 60, was released by U.S. Magistrate Judge Mikel H. Williams following the suspect’s initial appearance at the federal courthouse in Coeur d’Alene.

Hundley surrendered to FBI agents earlier in the day before going before the judge around 11 a.m.

As part of his release, Hundley cannot drink alcohol or possess firearms, must surrender his passport and cannot travel outside Idaho, the Eastern Washington district or the northern district of Georgia, where the case will be scheduled to go to trial.

The judge also ordered a $10,000 unsecured bond, meaning Hundley would owe the government if he failed to show for court proceedings.

Hundley declined to comment Tuesday, and referred questions to his attorney, Marcia G. Shein, of Decatur, Ga., who didn’t return a message from The Press.

“That’s all I’m saying,” he said.

Hundley was the president of Unitech Composites and Structures in Hayden before the company fired him in light of the incident that has made international headlines. The company,  a large manufacturer of composite products for aerospace, transportation, military, commercial and industrial applications, confirmed the firing Monday.

Hundley is accused of slapping the toddler Feb. 8 on a Minneapolis-to-Atlanta flight and telling the boy’s mother, 33-year-old Minnesota resident Jessica Bennett, to “shut that ('N-word') baby up,” according to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court, for the northern district of Georgia.

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