During the pandemic we’ve seen an endless amount of unruly passenger behavior, and all too often passengers get away with it. It amazes me how often people aren’t even arrested, and charges aren’t filed. Well, here’s a case where a passenger is facing a serious punishment for his actions.
Man groped American Airlines flight attendant
This incident involves an American Airlines flight (AA1723) from Cancun (CUN) to Miami (MIA) on August 6, 2021. A 50-year-old Canadian citizen named Enio Socorro Zayas is at the center of this.
According to an FBI affidavit, the crew was performing service in the main cabin. Zayas was asleep at this time, so the flight attendant left some snacks in the man’s lap, and continued serving others. Apparently Zayas took this as an advance, and moments later the flight attendant felt a hand “grip the bottom of her thigh and move upwards towards the lower portion of her buttocks before rubbing firmly from side to side.”
How disgusting and degrading. Fortunately the flight attendant not only reported this incident, but other passengers came forward as witnesses, so that the man could be charged.
Man now jailed for six months for assault
All too often people get away with bad behavior on planes, though this time the guy is paying a major price. Back in October 2021 Zayas entered a plea agreement, admitting to one count of assault within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States.
This week a federal judge has sentenced Zayas to six months in prison, and then he’ll be on supervised release for a further year. A few thoughts:
- This man’s behavior was disgusting, and it’s good to see someone be charged for their misbehavior for once; I imagine it helps that the flight attendant reported this, and that others came forward to corroborate the story
- At the same time, I can’t help but point out the huge variance in terms of how people get punished for inflight disturbances; some people act this way and don’t even get arrested or charged, while others are in jail for six months
- In a way I guess that sums up the inconsistency of the legal system overall
Maybe behavior on planes would be better if people consistently faced consequences like this.
Bottom line
A man is being jailed for six months after groping an American Airlines flight attendant on a Cancun to Miami flight in August 2021. All too often we see people get away with horrible behavior on planes, so hopefully stories like this act as a reminder to not misbehave.
What do you make of the six month jail sentence for this inflight assault?
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