Flight ‘30 minutes of hell’ for unaccompanied girl
Alleged sexual assault aboard plane raises concerns about safety of children on aircraft
The first warning sign came before the plane had even taken off. Chad Cameron Camp had his choice of seats on the half-empty American Airlines flight from Dallas to Portland last Wednesday. But Camp, 26, curiously chose a middle seat — right next to an unaccompanied 13-year-old girl, the FBI said in a statement.
Flight attendants offered to move Camp to a different seat where he would have more room, but he de- clined, saying, “No, I’m fine,” the Oregonian reported, citing a criminal complaint.
When a flight attendant returned for drink service a half-hour later, she saw Camp’s hand on the teenager’s crotch, according to the complaint described by the Oregonian.
She also saw “a single tear coming down the victim’s cheek.”
Flight attendants separated Camp and the teenager for the rest of the flight. And as soon as the plane landed, the unaccompanied minor was rushed off the plane.
When Camp exited the plane, he was arrested and charged with abusive sexual contact, according to the FBI.
The teenager’s attorney, however, says that the airline failed to protect its vulnerable passenger.
“This was 30 minutes of hell for this young lady,” said Brent Goodfellow, a lawyer representing the girl, who scoffed at the idea that his client had been saved by a heroic flight attendant.
“If I have my tray table down or my seat back two inches during the improper time, those guys are going to be on me immediately,” Goodfellow said. “This girl got abused for 30 minutes and no one was to be found.”
Not only did the airline fail to protect her, he added, but American Airlines also charged the girl’s family extra to let her travel alone.
“The family paid $300 (U.S.) extra and this is what they get?” he said, adding that his clients are “absolutely going to sue the airline.”
American Airlines said it takes “these matters very seriously” and is fully co-operating with law enforcement.
“American cares deeply about our young passengers and is committed to providing a safe and pleasant travel experience for them,” the airline said in a statement to CNN.
Wednesday’s incident allegedly began brewing the moment Camp boarded the airplane.
“The first word out of his mouth was ‘(expletive),’ ” the attorney said.
If that wasn’t enough of a warning, Goodfellow said, the flight attendants should have realized there was a problem when Camp declined to move to an empty row — or at least to the aisle seat.
“That’s a big red flag,” the attorney said. On Thursday, Camp appeared briefly in U.S. District Court in Portland. His attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf, the Oregonian reported.
No matter the outcome of Camp’s case, Goodfellow said the incident had permanently affected the 13year-old girl.
“She doesn’t want to be on an airplane ever again,” he said. “This is going to affect the rest of her life.”