The family of a teenager in North Carolina is suing American Airlines because they say a flight attendant taped an iPhone to an airplane toilet to record her using the bathroom on a September flight. Lawyers for the 14-year-old girl and her parents say the airline “knew or should have known the flight attendant was a danger,” according to the Associated Press.
Attorneys also say that since the crew failed to take the flight attendant’s phone, he was able to destroy the evidence. Because of that, the FBI told the family they weren’t able to arrest him as they didn’t find any incriminating evidence on his phone. The lawsuit against American Airlines and the unidentified employee was filed on December 1 in U.S. district court in North Carolina.
American Airlines had this to say about the incident, according to the AP:
American said the flight attendant was “withheld from service” immediately after the alleged incident and has not worked since.
“We take this matter very seriously and have been fully cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation, as safety and security are our highest priorities,” American said in a prepared statement.
Jalopnik has previously reported on this incident, but a lot more detail has come to light in the three months since it happened in early September. The 14-year-old girl said she was waiting to use the bathroom in the economy section of the plane where her family was sitting. Then, the flight attendant in question told her to use the restroom in first class. He entered the bathroom first, telling her that he needed to wash his hands, emerging a minute later to tell the girl that the seat was broken but she didn’t have to worry about it.
The girl did her business and then realized an iPhone was – for the most part – hidden behind red airline tape on the toilet seat that said “Remove from service.” Not only is this flight attendant a perverted criminal, he’s also an idiot, because the camera’s flash was on, as the AP reports and the photo shows.
The 14-year-old was “shocked and scared” according to the lawsuit, and she immediately realized that someone put the phone there to film her using the bathroom. That’s when she took a picture of the phone.
Now, AP reports the girl is undergoing therapy for trauma.