Pax Considering Lawsuit Against Delta Over Onboard Sexual Assault

The attorney for a woman who was groped and assaulted on a Delta Airlines flight last summer blames the airline for allowing the perpetrator’s behavior to escalate dramatically during the trip.

Forty-one-year-old Christopher Finkley will spend time in jail after pleading guilty to charges that he exposed himself, masturbated in public view and groped a nearby passenger on a Delta Airlines flight from Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR) to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW). Now, attorney Gerald Acker says his client may sue the airline for allowing her to be terrorized by Finkley, despite clear warning signs that he was a danger to other passengers.

Acker contends that even after Finkley was caught exposing himself and masturbating, he was left unattended. The lawyer says that Finkley was then free to grab the thigh of the victim he represents. According to court records, the aggressive passenger at one point even placed his hand under the woman’s shorts as she pleaded for him to stop.

“Rather than telling anybody, they allow this predator to move to the back of the airplane and assault a passenger,” Acker told The Detroit Free Press “It’s our understanding they didn’t have any policies to deal with any incidents like this. That’s what their representation has been – which is hard to believe.”

After he was initially caught pleasuring himself, Finkley reportedly moved from the first class cabin to the rear of the plane where he assaulted the female passenger who was returning home from a cheerleading competition with her then 14-year-old daughter. The victim who does not want to be identified was too distraught to give a statement to police when Finkley was originally taken into custody by police upon landing at DTW.

The family is said to have been offered a combination of SkyMiles and travel vouchers in the wake of the traumatic incident.

“My guess is that in the next few weeks, we’ll be filing a lawsuit,” Acker told the newspaper. The attorney declined to specify the amount of damages they would seek but indicated that the dollar amount would be “enough to make sure that when predators are on airplanes that they remember who they are, and that they don’t allow them to roam through an airplane.”

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