American Airlines is being sued by the family of a 9-year-old girl who was filmed surreptitiously in the bathroom by one of its flight attendants. The company's lawyers said it's her own fault for not noticing the device.
The airline is being sued in a Texas court after a now-former flight attendant, Estes Carter Thompson III, 37, used a recording device to film girls between the ages of seven and 14 years old using the American Airlines bathroom for several months in 2023. … On Monday, a lawyer representing the airline wrote in a filing that the little girl should have been aware that a device was recording her while she was using the bathroom.
"Any injuries or illnesses alleged to have been sustained by Plaintiff, Mary Doe, were proximately caused by Plaintiff's own fault and negligence, were proximately caused by Plaintiff's use of the compromised lavatory, which she knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device," the filing said.
The camera was finally spotted by a 14-year-old victim. The suspect's alleged MO was to approach girls waiting to enter the economy class toilets and allow them to use the first-class toilets where he had installed the device.
Police also allege Thompson, 36, of Charlotte, North Carolina, had recordings of four other girls — ages 7, 9, 11 and 14 — using aircraft lavatories. Thompson was charged and arrested in January 2024 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He has been in federal custody since. According to investigators, about midway through a Sept. 2, 2023, flight from Charlotte to Boston, the 14-year-old got up to use the main cabin lavatory nearest to her seat but found it was occupied. Thompson told her the first-class lavatory was unoccupied and escorted her there, investigators said. She told investigators that before she entered the bathroom, Thompson told her he needed to wash his hands and that the toilet seat was broken.
Nine years old! There's giving the client the best possible legal defense, and then there's that.
Previously: You think holiday air travel sucks? Try flying while disabled. On American Airlines.
• In-flight 'brawl' between American Airlines stewards leads to lawsuit
• NAACP warns black people they aren't safe on American Airlines
