According to a lawsuit filed on Monday in Los Angeles, Cali., an unidentified NFL player, only described as being from Essex County in N.J., is claiming he was sexually assaulted by a woman on a flight to Newark.
The player is suing United Airlines, claiming he was groped by an inebriated woman in his row while the flight crew members did little to stop it.
The athlete, referred to in the court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court as John Doe One, along with a Philadelphia man who was in the same row and listed in the suit as John Doe Two, are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. Their claim is that they were unnecessarily put at risk and harmed by a pair of flight attendants and the airlines’ blatant misconduct.
The accused woman, who is described as being disheveled and unbalanced, took the window seat next to the athlete, who was seated in the middle seat on a flight out of Los Angeles on Feb. 10.
The woman initially began questioning him in regards to his face mask, which he explained he was wearing to the growing concern of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both men claim to have witnessed the woman taking unknown prescription medications shortly after reaching her seat. They perceived her as being drunk and under the influence of drugs.
The second man informed crew members after the woman initially began verbally and physically harassing the athlete. The flight attendants fully disregarded the concern and never bothered to check on the woman or the situation.
The woman continued sexually assaulting the player, groping and massaging his knees and thighs. The player continuously pleaded with the woman to stop and repeatedly removed her hand.
Her actions continued and became more inappropriate and her advances intensified as she began groping the athlete’s thighs and moving her hands near his genitals.
This forced the second man again to notify members of the flight crew. A flight attendant gave the woman a verbal warning and walked away, which was their plan to dissolve the continuing situation.
The woman originally seemed to heed the warning and turned toward the window. But just minutes later, the woman put her hand through his jacket to rub up and down his chest before working her way up to his face.
She eventually proceeded to grab his penis and also removed his face mask. Violated and frustrated, he jumped up in front of the entire plane, hoping to finally get someone to take further action to stop the repeated and perpetual assault.
As he proceeded to go to the rear of the plane to find the flight attendant himself, the woman moved over to the middle seat and proceeded to assault the second man by grabbing his leg and groin area.
A flight attendant finally moved the woman to another row, and further claims suggest she was moved at least one other time for disrupting a third passenger.
His concern between the time of the incident and filing the lawsuit was the perception of being a male victim. In addition, the racial stigma of being a young African-American male athlete made him weary.
The summary of the claim is that United Airlines either does not have, or effectively enforce, procedures or policies to prevent sexual assaults on its flights, nor do their employees properly respond adequately to reports of such incidents, if and when they should occur.
The lawsuit brings to light the perception that if the roles been reversed, the repeated complaints likely would not have been ignored.
