
by Donald Wood
Last updated: 4:10 PM ET, Tue June 13, 2017
A woman has filed a lawsuit against Delta Air Lines that claims crew members failed to prevent a male passenger from molesting her during a flight in 2016.
According to The Associated Press, the woman, identified only as Rhonda, was on a Delta Connection flight from Detroit to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, when a male passenger named Christopher Finkley put his hand under her shorts while sitting next to her.
Finkley was sentenced to a week in jail for the crime after pleading guilty to assault in March.
Rhonda told reporters that she filed the lawsuit Friday in Wayne County, Michigan, and claims flight attendants allowed Finkley to roam around the plane after he exposed himself earlier in the journey while in first class.
The woman said she felt trapped in her window seat and was frozen in terror during the incident. Officials from Delta Air Lines said that it was "dismayed" by the incident, but would not comment further on the lawsuit.
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Rhonda was reportedly offered $2,500 in ticket vouchers following the incident.
As for Finkley, his defense attorney Colleen Fitzharris said during his criminal case that he was under the influence of alcohol during the incident and did a terrible thing.
"He is embarrassed by his conduct and regrets the pain it has caused the victim, the public and his family," Fitzharris said in a court filing.
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