A Texas mother has filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, claiming the carrier continued to serve alcohol to an already-intoxicated man who groped her daughter during a flight.
In the suit, the mother alleges the man was already drunk before boarding the plane and was served four more drinks on the flight – three beers and a shot of tequila – before fondling the 13-year old girl in the adjacent seat, reports the Dallas Morning News.
The woman filed the lawsuit in Dallas County Court, saying the Dallas-based airline failed to protect the young girl and violated its own policies by serving alcohol to a man named Anthony Ryan who, according to the lawsuit, was “visibly intoxicated and smelled of alcohol when he boarded the plane.”
“Instead of refusing service, Southwest’s flight attendant served beer after beer to the increasingly obnoxious Ryan,” the complaint read. “Even after telling Ryan that he needed to ’slow down’ the flight attendant continued to supply him with alcohol.”
A spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines told the Morning News that it does not comment on pending litigation.
Ryan was booked for public intoxication.
The lawsuit said the assault happened during a flight between Las Vegas and San Antonio on Dec. 27. The mother was traveling with her three children and had to sit in another row with a 5-year-old child while her 13-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son sat a few rows up, the paper noted.
“Each time the flight attendant served Ryan a drink, he became more flirtatious and aggressive,” the suit said. “Near the end of the flight, Ryan began fondling the 13-year-old plaintiff’s breasts under her blanket and reached his hand between her legs.”
The girl was too “embarrassed and afraid” to rebuke the man or call for help, the suit said.
