A Pittsburgh woman is looking for answers after a sexual assault on an airplane during a flight from Pittsburgh to Chicago.
Leah tells KDKA Radio she was on a United flight when she was assaulted by the man next to her.
She tells Colin Dunlap that it started when he tried to have a conversation with her that she wasn’t interested in.
Then, “he started to put the arm rest up, I’d put it down, he’d put it up, I saw him get a blanket and next thing I know he’s rubbing my arm.”
She says she didn’t know if he was touching her because of how close seats are inside airplanes.
But then she realized he was touching her thigh and had exposed himself and was touching himself, covering the act for everyone else to see with a large blanket.
“I froze,” said Leah. “It took me a while to get myself together. People that genuinely know me know that I don't freeze. Um, I can be mouthy and loud and I always voice my opinion, but when something like this happens to you, I was in shock.”
Leah says she eventually got up and talked to the flight attendants, telling them the story. She says the pilot was notified and when they landed in Chicago, she spent an hour talking to law enforcement.
She says in addition to speaking with police, another woman sitting near her and flight attendants made statements and that was the last she heard anything from officials. That was September 22.
The law enforcement officer she spoke with was an FBI agent and was texting with the agent shortly following the incident.
Leah asked for the name of the man that assaulted her but was told she couldn’t get that information.
“My husband then said, "Well, ask them how you're supposed to protect yourself." And his response to me was, "If I feel unsafe, to call 911." However, to me, as, you know, a female that travels alone frequently for work, that seems very reactive instead of being proactive,” said Leah. “If I'm already calling 911, it's because something's happened. And, quite frankly, I prefer nothing to happen to me.”
Leah says she now has a lawyer that deals specifically with sexual assaults on airplanes.
“They specialize in sexual assaults on airlines. I mean, the fact that there's a specialty in that is concerning as a society,” said Leah.
She adds that she has learned over the past few weeks that she isn’t alone in these types of assaults and that something needs to be done about it.
The woman says she was sexually assaulted on a flight to Chicago in Sept.
The woman says she was sexually assaulted on a flight to Chicago in Sept.
