What do you do when you're trapped in a small, airborne tin can with a creepy man who groped you sitting just up the aisle?
On a flight from Texas Saturday, writer and performer Ariana Lenarsky reported being groped by a random guy as she walked past his seat. Lenarsky quickly took advantage of the in-flight Wi-Fi, getting on Twitter and sounding the alarm.
"Some guy grabbed & stroked my calf (??) as I walked by on the plane, so I took his picture," she wrote in her first tweet of what would become, in her words, "a real-time Choose Your Own Adventure for how to deal with harassment."
Some guy grabbed & stroked my calf (??) as I walked by on the plane, so I took his picture. Not gonna post it, but I hope he's freaked out.
She said she took his picture, not intending to share it, just to scare him. But that changed over the course of the flight. When Lenarsky told the flight attendants what happened, she said, "They already knew who it was, because other women already complained."
I just told the flight attendants, and they both nodded. They already knew who it was, because other women already complained. Lol.
Lenarsky continued to say that she was stuck on that plane with the groper for another hour and a half, and asked her followers what she should do in the meantime. "Tag the airline? Tweet the photo?" she wondered.
Readers encouraged her to share the picture of the man, one suggesting she "tag the airline, post the photo, your flight number, arrival time and ask authorities to meet that a-hole at the gate."
Anyway. We don't land for an hour and a half. Anything else I need to do here? Tag the airline? Tweet the photo?
It's like a real-time Choose Your Own Adventure for how to deal with harassment.
I am now going to ask the flight attendants what they plan to do when we land.
When the flight did land, authorities were there to escort the man off the plane. Police questioned Lenarsky and another woman, whom the man had allegedly tried to kiss.
They told the captain and are filing a report with the airline. Local authorities will meet the plane when we land.
I feel depressed.
Police took him off the plane. I'm still here & they're taking my & another woman's report. The legal term for how he grabbed me is battery.
According to Lenarsky, she learned that had the other woman wanted to press charges, she would have had to involve the FBI, since the incident happened while the plane was in flight. Had Lenarsky wanted to press charges, she would have had to return to Austin, Texas — and pay her way herself.
He tried to kiss the other woman. She doesn't want to press charges bc since it happened in the sky, the FBI would have to get involved.
If I want to press charges, I'd have to fly back to Austin on my dime, since it's Austin PD's jurisdiction. I don't want to do that.
Police allegedly told Lenarsky that they would give the man "a talking to," but that his actions didn't amount to "the crime of the century." Since the groping was apparently "nbd," Lenarsky tweeted, she decided to share the man's picture, which had nearly 9,000 retweets at time of writing.
Police said they would "give him a talking to"& "it's not the crime of the century." True! I'm going to tweet his picture now since it's nbd
You can't grab women on a plane, guy. You can't do it. Hope you get the help you need.
Many on Twitter expressed outrage at the man's actions, asking, "What was he thinking," doing something like this "confined space" of an airplane. Taking a leaf from Donald Trump's book, possibly: The Republican presidential nominee has recently been confronted with mounting allegations from the many women he's reportedly sexually harassed, assaulted and even raped over the years. One of his accusers, Jessica Leeds, told the New York Times that Trump once accosted her on a flight to New York. After about 45 minutes in the air, she said, Trump groped her breast and tried to reach under her skirt.
"He was like an octopus," Leeds recalled. "His hands were everywhere."
What a positive example a presidential nominee has set for his country.
