Delta passengers sue airline after drunk passenger gropes 16-year-old
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A man gropes a minor on the plane, and flight attendants let him walk off without calling authorities.
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In this Monday, Oct. 29, 2012, file photo, travelers on Delta Air Lines wait for flights, in Detroit. (AP)
A woman and her 16-year-old daughter are suing for $2 million in damages, claiming that flight attendants on a nine-hour journey "blatantly" disregarded their cries for assistance and continued to overserve a harrasser with alcohol. A plaintiffs' lawyer, Evan Brustein, said that “what happened to them during a flight was not just a nightmare; it was completely preventable."
According to court documents obtained by a US media site, Delta flight attendants continued to serve the intoxicated man next to the plaintiffs during the journey from JFK Airport to Athens, Greece, delivering him at least ten vodka drinks and a glass of wine.
"The intoxicated Delta passenger appeared to be getting drunker and drunker as the Delta flight attendants continued serving him alcohol," the lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District of New York, claims, adding that the intoxicated passenger tried to speak to the 16-year-old who kept ignoring him.
He got hostile toward the child out of anger, shouting at her and making lewd gestures. She was terrified when he grabbed her and put his hands on her back, and demanded that she give him her address and other personal information.
The harasser allegedly said he didn't care when the girl's mother informed him that her daughter was a minor and still in high school. He then reached over to the girl and started tugging on the mother's arm, as seen by the lawsuit.
According to the complaint, flight attendants urged the woman and her daughter to "be patient" after they complained that the alcoholic passenger, who mumbled that he was from Connecticut, was making them feel insecure despite other passengers witnessing the man screaming.
He kicked the row of seats in front of him ferociously, lowered his head for "about thirty seconds," shot up, and dashed to the bathroom, where he was heard puking.
He was allegedly denied access to his drinks and was not even transferred to a different seat, despite the mother and daughter's repeated requests, according to the lawsuit. The man held a glass of red wine when he sat back down in his seat.
The situation worsened when the flight attendants ordered the man to "stop talking" to the mother and daughter, prompting him to yell foul language at the two women and refer to them as "f****** b******".
The "terrified" minor slumped her head down on her mother's lap. During that time, the man allegedly slipped his fingers under her blouse and felt around for the bra strap's clasp.
"Trembling, petrified and crying," the teen leaped out of her seat and away from the man, the lawsuit states. But the mother allegedly started screaming at the man to stop before he also sprang out of his seat when he went on to put his hand on her leg and allegedly started moving it up the inner of her thigh.
The flight attendants ignored their requests once more, but a male passenger offered to swap seats with the teenage girl, who would then spend the entire flight seated between the two women and the inebriated passenger.
The airline company Delta handed the woman and her kid 5,000 bonus miles and an apology, but hasn't responded to the case. However, it is also claimed that the Delta personnel permitted the man to leave the aircraft without informing regional or federal law enforcement of his actions. When the mother insisted that a Delta flight attendant call the authorities, she was instructed to "calm down and think about it."
According to Delta, they have "zero tolerance" for patrons who act inappropriately or illegally.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reports that complaints about disorderly and dangerous passenger behavior on airplanes more than doubled in 2021.
Men commit the majority of sexual assaults on airplanes, according to the FAA. Typically, the victim is located in the middle or by the window, and the perpetrator is seated near the aisle. To barricade the victim from fleeing and prevent them from calling for aid, the criminal takes use of the sitting arrangement.
