An off-duty pilot groped a young girl who was sleeping on a Delta Air Lines flight on Saturday. The 14-year-old girl was sitting next to the man when the pilot grabbed her buttocks.
Michael James Pascal, 45, was identified as the off-duty Delta Connection pilot involved in a felony complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Pascal was charged with abusive sexual contact on an aircraft, the Smoking Gun reports.
Pascal and the teenage girl were both on Delta Flight 844 which left from Detroit and was heading to Salt Lake City. The girl was on crutches due to a foot injury and was traveling alone. She boarded the flight early and was seated by the window in row 44. Pascal sat next to her in the middle seat.
The girl, who is identified as R.S. in the complaint, told investigators that after talking to Pascal about her foot injury, "I made sure I had the armrest down because I usually feel uncomfortable when people get to close to me."
The girl said she fell asleep while sitting with her legs pulled close to her chest and her feet on the seat. When she woke up, she found Pascal's hand "under the left cheek of her buttocks." She says his hand was far enough under her buttocks that his fingers were touching her inner thigh."
Agent Smilie said the girl told him that Pascal's hand was palm up and she could feel him "gripping her buttocks but not moving." The arm rest had been turned upright and Pascal was putting some of his weight on the girl. His eyes were open and he was awake.
The girl said she elbowed Pascal in the right arm and said "What the hell are you doing?" He quickly pulled his hand out from under her.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I was asleep, I have to use the bathroom," Pascal told the girl, the complaint says. The girl pressed the call button to get the attention of the flight attendant. She then left her seat and went up to a member of the flight crew who seated her in the last row.
When the plane landed in Pascal, law enforcement officials interviewed Pascal. He says he fell asleep with his hands in his lap and didn't remember where his hands were when the girl elbowed him and asked him what he was doing.
He says that it "may be possible for his hand to have fallen in the minor's seat while he was asleep." Police questioned why the armrest was raised and he said that the man on the other side of him was taking up too much space and the girl wasn't taking up as much space as she was smaller.
Pascal is still in custody. He will have a detention hearing on Friday.
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