Woman says she was sexually assaulted on flight

A woman has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines, saying a man sexually assaulted her during a red-eye flight from San Francisco to Dallas last year.

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Barbara Morgan of California said that shortly after the flight took off and the lights were dimmed, the man sitting next to her in the middle seat started rubbing his arms against her in a deliberate attempt to touch her breasts.

She tried to create some distance from the man, she said, but he was undeterred. “He placed his hand on the plaintiff’s upper thigh, slid it up toward her vagina and fondled her genitals,” the complaint said, adding that the man put a bag on his lap to conceal an erection.

The lawsuit, filed on April 24 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, one year after the alleged incident, said that the accused, Cherian Abraham, had been reported to the airline previously but was allowed to keep flying.