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Topics: American Airlines, no-article-matching
Shola Lee
A Canadian man has been sentenced to six months in prison after groping a flight attendant.
Enio Socorro Zayas was sentenced on Monday, January 24, after pleading guilty to the assault, which took place on an American Airlines attendant in October 2021.
The incident reportedly occurred when Zayas was travelling on a flight from Cancun, Mexico, to Miami International Airport in August 2021.
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The flight attendant in question left snacks on Zayas's lap, believing he was asleep. Investigators say he proceeded to grab the woman on the back of the leg and move his hand up to her buttocks, without her consent.
The attendant reported the incident when the plane landed in Miami, with passengers verifying the information.
This incident is the latest is a series of male passengers touching female cabin crew and passengers without their consent.
As per the Independent, a woman flying from Las Vegas to Washington on December 24, 2021, woke up to find a the passenger next to her fondling her breast.
The woman then shouted 'get away from me', and the male passenger made his way to the back of the plane and told a flight attendant he had 'sexually assaulted the woman sitting next to him'.
A report from the case states, 'The indictment alleges that she awoke to [the man] repeatedly rubbing her right breast. When the passenger opened her eyes, she allegedly observed Lopez leaning over her and his right hand was placed on her right breast.'
In August 2021, authorities said that a man on a flight from Philadelphia groped a female flight attendant and punched a male cabin crew member.
According to the criminal complaint written by arresting officers, Maxwell Berry used his empty cup on the plane to touch the backside of a cabin crew member who then said 'don't touch me'.
Berry then proceeded to grope the chest of another flight attendant and punch a male cabin crew member.
He was arrested when the Frontier Airlines flight landed in Miami.
These incidents have become commonplace. According to a survey conducted by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA, AFL-CIO), 85% of nearly 5,000 US flight attendants said they've dealt with an unruly passenger in 2021, while 17% said they've been physically assaulted.
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