A Virgin America passenger has filed a lawsuit against the airline after a flight he took last year ended with police questioning him that he'd failed to flush the toilet. Salvatore Bevivino was on a flight from Philadelphia to San Francisco last April when he refused to place his drink order through the seat-back touch screen and asked the attendants directly, according to a copy of the suit that The Smoking Gun obtained.
According to the suit the 52-year-old Bevivino received his soda after several in-person requests. Then when the flight landed in San Francisco he was pulled aside by the captain and asked why he had used obscene language with the flight attendants. He was also accused onf not flushing the toilet and was questioned by FBI, police and other officials.
Philly.com reported that the suit seeks $500,000 in damages and was filed in the Northern District of California. Bevivino is a business manager for Genentech and said to Philly.com that he did not understand why he was being detained.
According to the police report a flight attendant said to an investigator that Bevivino had used the restroom after he asked for the drink and "[He] came back out with a smile on his face and began using profanities. [Name redacted] passed by the restroom and saw that Bevivino left the door open and did not flush the toilet."
Bevivino told police that he didn't use obscene language with the attendants and did not leave the toilet unflushed. He said he had tried to order a drink but was frustrated with the onboard computer and then became frustrated when flight attendants ignored him.
A part of Bevivino's suit states that he is Italian and believes that his "dark complexion" could have mistakenly associated with him of being from Middle Eastern descent, reported The Smoking Gun.
He was eventually released. Bevivino's complaint said that he was violated his civil rights through discrimination, denial of equal rights and false imprisonment.
mortification, mental anguish and emotional distress, and damage to his professional reputation, according to the suit.The complaint states that Virgin America violated Bevivino's civil rights through false imprisonment, discrimination, and denial of equal rights.
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