Sixty-year-old Joe Rickey Hundley was accused of using a racial slur and then slapping 19-month-old Jonah.
The toddler and his mother, Jessica Bennett, were on a Delta flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta when the incident happened.
Jonah's mother says the man next to her on the plane was drinking during the flight and constantly complaining about little Jonah.
When the plane began its descent Jonah's mother says he started crying, and that's when Hundley lashed out at them both.
Jonah's mother says Hundley used a racial slur and slapped her child near the eye, causing him to bleed and cry louder.
Bennett said, "I could not believe he would say something like that to a baby or about a baby and then to hit him, I felt like I was in another world. I was shaking."
Jonah's mother says other passengers came to her aid and the two were given a new seat.
Hundley is now facing federal assault charges. If he's found guilty he could get up to a year in prison.