A British Airways passenger has pleaded “not guilty” to assault after a wild flight on British Airways from Houston to London.
William Clegg, 30, of London, has been accused of the following transgressions after a disruptive flight on BA:
- Over-consumption of alcohol
- Smoking onboard
- Assaulting five flight attendants
- In one instance, he placed a t-shirt over the head of one FA and attempted to drag her to the ground
- In another, he grabbed the arm of a male FA and attempted to wrestle him to the ground
- Tearing the cushion from seats
- Climbing over sleeping passengers
- Breaking free of handcuff restraints
- Attempting to headbutt a flight attendant
This event occurred on August 25th, but Clegg recently appeared in court. There, he pleaded not guilty to:
- Five charges of assault
- Being drunk on an aircraft
- Smoking on an aircraft
- Threatening, abusive, insulting or disorderly manner towards a member of aircraft crew
Clegg’s lawyer claimed the problem was his client’s “cocktail of sleeping medication”, adding:
“The amount of alcohol was very limited, it was three glasses..The issue here is of non-insane automatism. He was on a combination of medication for sleep deprivation.”
Clegg was released without bail and ordered to appear in court next month to face trial.
CONCLUSION
We have the undisputed facts in front of us. It’s an interesting case. So rather than opine about what really happened, I’ll just leave it at that…
Three drinks in a pressurized cabin is not what I would call “very limited.”
There is no excuse. He should get some jail time. Why be lenient because other people have been drastically impacted with no way of making it right!!
We Brits know how to have a good time! 😉
Was he prosecuted in the UK or the US?
And some people actually believe THIS is the Golden Age of air travel???
It’s an interesting approach by his attorney – admit that the actions took place as charged/alleged, but provide an affirmative defense which is basically that the actions were involuntary due to his medication. Without having researched the law (or knowing the jurisdiction since the legal concept is Anglo-American, ie, exists under both UK and US law), I wonder if his (presumably knowing) decision to consume alcohol on top of his meds, especially while in flight, can be used by the prosecution to rebut that defense? Or is the defense that the alcohol consumption is irrelevant to his actions, and he would have behaved this way even without three drinks? If this is a jury trial, that may be hard to get a lay jury to believe…
This is one “passenger misbehaving” incident that actually raises some interesting questions.
What a dick. Those folks who make a huge effort to look amazing in their sekt uniforms are there to save our frigging lives. He needs a lifetime blacklist.
I would have knocked him out with the butt of a Champagne bottle Good night!
Climbing over sleeping passengers?
That’s the norm in Club World.
There’s no longer such a thing as “undisputed facts”, just look at trump.
In his alternate reality, perhaps he can claim that everyone else on the plane was drunk and imagined all the things he is being accused of, or it is just fake news…
All he needs to get away with his narrative are corrupt republican senators, hypocrite religious right leaders, and fox news.
Wow. Ny times had two articles last night online. One was a very nicely written article about the timeline of the whole Ukraine affair. Trump is nothing unless enabled by the white Republican males in his administration. The whole cabal is guilty. The other is how a handful of corporations have gotten outsized tax benefits thanks to these idiots.
Hate republicans more. No difference between a Islamist jihadi and republican. Both are evil and enemy of the USA. One from outside. One from inside.
Things like this didn’t happen in the 80’s when I was a child passenger. People respected the crew. Also tickets were so expensive only the middle class (R.I.P.) and above could afford to fly. The problem started when airfare dropped and poor people started flying ….thanks for f*ckin things up you poor people.
That’s absolutely disgusting you should be ashamed of your self for that statement.
You flaming snobb
Seems like a normal and very fun flight in 1972. Alas, poor guy was somehow transported through time to the dystopic future and should be thorougly studied by scientists.