Groping Victim May Sue Delta Over Masturbating Passenger

DETROIT, MI — A Metro Detroit woman who was sexually assaulted last year by a man who was convicted of criminal charges in the incident may file a civil lawsuit against Delta Airlines for not doing enough to stop the man from roaming about the aircraft once he had been seen openly masturbating, according to media reports. The passenger, Christopher Finkley, 41, was convicted earlier this year of simple assault (inappropriate touching) and indecent exposure in two separate incidents that occurred during the July 2016 flight from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to Detroit, according to court documents.

The incidents included one in which Finkley exposed his penis while masturbating, and another in which he touched the woman who is now contemplating the lawsuit against the airline. Finkley admitted to investigators “that he likes to sit with his hands in his pants and massage his penis, and called this ‘his happy place,’ ” according to a sentencing memorandum filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the criminal case.

Finkley was sentenced to seven days in jail and placed on probation for one year on the criminal charges.

Gerald Acker, the attorney for the Garden City woman who is suing Delta, said the flight crew did nothing to stop Finkley from roaming about the airplane after a flight attendant observed him masturbating in his first-class seat, WWJ reported.

“What they should’ve done, after they found out he’s masturbating and exposing himself in first class and the stewardess went to the cabin and told the pilot, who radioed ahead to call the police,” Acker told WJBK-TV. “They should’ve taken the flight attendants and monitored that man and not allowed that predator to run through the cabin.”

Acker told the Detroit Free Press that he understands after talking with Delta representatives that the airline doesn’t have procedures in place to deal with this type of incident.

Delta told WJBK that its connection partner, ExpressJet, operated the flight. ExpressJet declined to comment on the lawsuit. Acker told both WJBK and the Free Press that he is working to resolve the situation out of court, but if no settlement is reached, the lawsuit will be filed. So far, the airline has offered the woman about 2,500 airline miles.

The lawsuit, which Acker classified as likely, will seek damages that are high “enough to make sure that when predators are on airplanes that they remember who they are, and that they don’t allow them to roam through an airplane.”

The Garden City woman identified as a victim in the criminal charges said she hopes the civil lawsuit will raise awareness of what happened so other women and children won’t have to “go through what I went through.”

The assault occurred after Finkley went to the rear of the aircraft to use the restroom, according to the sentencing memorandum filed last month in U.S. District Court in Detroit. The government said Finkley sat down in an empty aisle seat next to the woman, placed his hand on her upper thigh, began to rub her bare skin, said he “likes white women” and asked, “where’s your man?”

The woman repeatedly asked him to stop, pointed out to him that her children were seated behind her, and told FBI investigators that his hand reached up under the shorts she was wearing and continued to rub her, according to the sentencing memorandum. The flight was about to land, so he returned to first-class seat and again was observed rubbing his penis, according to the memo.

When the aircraft landed, the victim was visibly upset, crying and too distraught to make an immediate statement, but later told investigators that she was especially upset because her 14-year-old daughter had been assigned to the seat, but had switched with her before the flight began, according to the memo.

Finkley told investigators that he thought he had covered himself with a blanket, according to the memo, which also said he admitted to making a “caressing motion” on the outside of the victim’s knee.

“This is a serious offense,” the government said in the memo, noting that the fact that it took place during a flight “only escalates its severity.”

“The victim did not have the ability to get up and walk away with the defendant seated in the aisle seat blocking her path,” the government wrote. “She was effectively trapped.”

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