American Airlines later released a statement distancing the company from the filing, saying attorneys had made a mistake and that the defense will be changedNicole Acosta is a staff writer on the crime team at PEOPLE. She previously worked at Daily Voice and doNYC and is a Mercy College graduate.Attorneys for American Airlines claimed in a court filing this week that a 9-year-old who was allegedly filmed by a flight attendant’s hidden phone in an airplane bathroom is to blame for the incident.
“To blame a 9 year old for being filmed while using the airplane bathroom is both shocking and outrageous,” said Paul Llewellyn, Lewis & Llewellyn LLP. “In my opinion this is a depraved legal strategy that sinks to a new low. American Airlines should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.” “Our outside legal counsel retained with our insurance company made an error in this filing,” the emailed statement shared with PEOPLE reads. “The included defense is not representative of our airline and we have directed it be amended this morning. We do not believe this child is at fault and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously. Our core mission is to care for people — and the foundation of that is the safety and security of our customers and team.
“Defendant Thompson saved images of Mary Doe’s face, unclothed buttocks and genitalia to his iCloud account,” the lawsuit alleges. “The minor victim used her phone to take a picture of the red stickers and the concealed iPhone she found in the lavatory before exiting, at which time Thompson allegedly re-entered it immediately,” per the statement. The 14-year-old subsequently informed her parents, who reported the incident to the crew onboard, who then notified authorities.