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Girl allegedly molested on Delta flight (Freep a Poll)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 10/11/07 | D.L. BENNETT

Posted on 10/12/2007 5:46:32 AM PDT by Sopater

An 11-year-old Alabama girl flying alone from San Diego to Atlanta says a man slipped into the empty seat beside her and sexually molested her on a crowded Delta jet.

The disturbing charges were made public in a lawsuit filed last week in Fulton County State Court could make parents think twice before placing any unescorted child on a bus, plane or train. The suit seeks unspecified damages.

Delta, with more than 1,000 flights a day leaving Atlanta alone, estimates it carries thousands of unescorted young fliers a year.

Savannah lawyer Mark Tate, who is representing the family, said the girl, whose name was withheld in the lawsuit, was traumatized by the incident.

Although the girl reported the incident to her mother when she got off the plane, Tate said no criminal charges have been filed and no suspect identified. The mother took the report to Huntsville police, Atlanta police and eventually the FBI.

"Delta has a very high burden to meet in protecting passengers," said Tate. "We feel Delta didn't meet that. This little girl is not doing well. It's caused severe problems."

Airline officials refused to directly address the charges in the lawsuit.

(Excerpt) Read more at ajc.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
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To: xjcsa

I think they are responsible for making sure the child gets where she needs to be so she doesn’t get lost in plane changes and things.

I just don’t see how they can be expected to know that something like this report indicates is happening if the girl doesn’t report it and the other surrounding passengers didn’t appear to notice. The flight attendants have a whole plane to serve. They can’t help her if she doesn’t alert them.

I think the very fact that we don’t know who the man is, is suspect. They know who was on that plane. If there was any basis for the complaint, they’d have been able to get a name.


61 posted on 10/12/2007 8:02:09 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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To: Scythian

There is no proof that this really happened. If you have taught your children to raise a rukus if touched inappropriately, it is as safe as allowing them to ride the bus to school or allowing them to go into a public restroom.


62 posted on 10/12/2007 8:16:46 AM PDT by trussell (I'm a FREDeralist!)
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To: Scythian

“...OBVIOUSLY, THIS GIRL BEING MOLESTED...”

How do you know she was molested? Do you have information that the rest of us do not?

If so, spill.


63 posted on 10/12/2007 8:26:53 AM PDT by getitright
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To: ariamne

You should have second thoughts about it now. The statement I made was intended to make people “think” about this. O.K., so yea, the kid will be turned over to and overseen by the “Flight Attendants”. Where do you think we live folks? I don’t automatically see halo’s floating over everyone and anyone wearing a Flight Attendant suit! They are drawn from the same cesspool society and culture the rest of us are forced to swim in. Yea, turn your kid over to that bull dyke flight attendant or the one who looks like Michael Vick in drag because he/she is a tranny, and take your chances. Does anyone here have any idea how many kids go missing in this country every year? Get a grip or more important get some real information about what’s really going on. Step outside the burbs long enough to get a whiff of GP, (General Population)!


64 posted on 10/12/2007 8:33:46 AM PDT by glide625
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To: johnny7
The incident alleged in the lawsuit occurred on Jan. 6 when the girl was on a return trip from San Diego where she was visiting her father, a Marine who was on leave. Her mother, a 31-year-old property manager from Huntsville, was set to meet the plane in Atlanta.

"Seated next to her was a child molester who switched seats so that neither were in their assigned seats," the suit reads... "

I agree. Just too many gaps in execution and information, to wit:

-The incident happened in January and the lawsuit is just being filed in October?

-Nobody is sitting in their assigned seat, so the passenger list (if it still exists) cannot be used to identify the possible assailant (other than placing every man on the flight under suspicion).

-Terminal surveillence tapes get recycled periodically. Given the amount of time since the incident occurred, the possibility of using it to make an identification is probably gone as well.

- Finally, before getting too committed to the story, remember that kids do make up some pretty serious things out of whole cloth and that false claims to extort money from public accommodations do get made from time to time.

To be fair, the terrible converse must be held to be possible as well; that a young girl traveling alone WAS molested on a flight from San Diego to Atlanta.

65 posted on 10/12/2007 8:37:39 AM PDT by Captain Rhino ( If we have the WILL to do it, there is nothing built in China that we cannot do without.)
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To: Sopater

Hey I just traveled on a plane Wednesday. Maybe I need to get in on this quick money making scheme. Mother and Daughter needed a way for future college finances and seems to have found the way.


66 posted on 10/12/2007 8:42:56 AM PDT by napscoordinator
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To: Suzy Quzy
I'll grant that there are poor parents that would send an 11 yo on a flight without proper instructions regarding this sort of thing, but I can't think it would be very many. And I know that when my daughter flew alone when she was 11, she was quite clear with us that she knew what to do if such a thing were to happen.


67 posted on 10/12/2007 8:50:53 AM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s........you weren't really there)
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To: Sopater
"Although the girl reported the incident to her mother when she got off the plane, Tate said no criminal charges have been filed and no suspect identified. The mother took the report to Huntsville police, Atlanta police and eventually the FBI.

sw

68 posted on 10/12/2007 8:53:14 AM PDT by spectre (spectre's wife (Susan Estrich, "Hillary sucks all the oxygen out of the room".)
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To: Sopater

I think this may be a set up but not sure. It has the hint of separated parents Marine father in SD on leave yet the father and girl visit alone in SD? Does not compute. Also why in the hell didn’t the girl yell or shout???


69 posted on 10/12/2007 8:53:27 AM PDT by Shots
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To: Sopater
I'm not going to rush to judgment on this story, it sounds too fishy. A molester attacks a girl with 100+ people in close proximity? People sitting across the aisle could see what was happening.

Let's say this attack happened, why wasn't this girl taught to stand up for herself and defend herself?

70 posted on 10/12/2007 9:07:31 AM PDT by Jabba the Nutt (Just laugh at them!)
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To: Fairview

LOL

My (then HS aged) daughter asked for some boots - we live in AK, makes sense.

She showed me the boots - German Tanker boots. OK, they are surplus and wear well. She insisted on the steel toed version - OK, safety first.

Where would she wear these - in a mosh pit of course. The young men learned very quickly about getting too close.

She does kick boxing as well. I know my grandkids are safe....


71 posted on 10/12/2007 9:47:47 AM PDT by ASOC (Yeah, well, maybe - but can you *prove* it?)
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To: Sopater

Why in the world was an eleven year old flying alone?


72 posted on 10/12/2007 10:24:35 AM PDT by kenth
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To: PAR35

Confused...


73 posted on 10/12/2007 12:34:39 PM PDT by gun_supporter
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To: shadeaud

I was thinking the same thing, this smells might fishy..

(a) If when my daughter got off a plane she told me this I would rip the airport apart with my bear hands trying to get a hold of the guy.

(b) Did she not even bother to hit the stewerdess button for help?


74 posted on 10/12/2007 1:49:42 PM PDT by N3WBI3 (Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you. -- Londo Mollari)
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To: glide625

And, at what age, should said statute not make it criminal?


75 posted on 10/12/2007 1:50:30 PM PDT by N3WBI3 (Ah, arrogance and stupidity all in the same package. How efficient of you. -- Londo Mollari)
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To: ml/nj
My daughter started flying by herself when she was seven years old.

Dumb question: Why didn't you fly with her?

76 posted on 10/12/2007 1:53:19 PM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: ASOC
Mosh girl!

77 posted on 10/12/2007 2:00:56 PM PDT by evets (beer)
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To: glide625

You are such an ass. What would you know about it?


78 posted on 10/12/2007 2:05:45 PM PDT by ariamne (Proud shieldmaiden of the infidel--never forget, never forgive 9/11)
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To: evets
LOL

My daughter was a little skinnier and had really BIG boots. More than a few bloody shins at the and of the evening...

79 posted on 10/12/2007 2:22:01 PM PDT by ASOC (Yeah, well, maybe - but can you *prove* it?)
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To: gun_supporter

I was making an obscure reference to this thread

An Open Letter to the Ron Paul Faithful
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1910141/posts

and the fact that Ron Paul supporters have a reputation of spamming online polls. So when the question was asked as to how you should vote on a completely unrelated online poll, my answer was “Ron Paul”.


80 posted on 10/12/2007 9:47:20 PM PDT by PAR35
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