The lesson is becoming clear for me: if you see something, say something…and don’t wait to do it. An inebriated passenger on a flight to Denver demonstrates this point after victimizing a man who exercised far more patience than was warranted.
Sexual Assault On Flight To Denver
First let’s recount what happened, then discuss how it might have been handled more effectively.
- An FBI affidavit reveals an incident took place onboard a flight from Sacramento (SMF) to Denver (DEN) on October 25, 2021
- Although the airline is not revealed, the flight schedule (8:30pm landing in Denver) suggests it was Southwest Airlines flight 1297, though it could have been United Airlines flight 2412, which landed at Denver around the same time.
- Robert Glasper III appeared to be “under the influence” and “looked lost while sitting in his window seat
- The victim, sitting in the middle seat, noticed Glasper was sitting on his seatbelt and mentioned it to him
- Glasper responded by reaching over and squeezing the butt of the victim
- Glasper continued to touch the victim, making a “cupping motion” with his hand and touching the victim’s leg
- At this point, the victim claims he felt too intimidated to notify flight attendants
- Glasper repeatedly tried to hold the hand of the passenger
- The victim kept his hands firmly in his lap, so Glasper was only to place his hand on top of the victim’s
- According to the FBI affidavit “contacts on the victim’s leg and hands would last from between a few seconds to a couple of minutes in duration”
- Glasper repeatedly asked to swap seats with the victim, ostensibly to get closer to the female passenger sitting in the aisle seat
- At one point, Glasper stood up to use the lavatory
- Upon his return, he exposed his genitals and begin masturbating
- Glasper told the victim to “look at this” and asked him to “jerk me off”
- At this point, the victim alerted flight attendants who moved him to another seat
- Law enforcement were notified and met the aircraft in Denver, where Glasper was detained
- Glasper is now charged with three federal offenses, including:
- Sexual contact without permission within special aircraft jurisdiction
- Lewd, indecent, obscene acts within special aircraft jurisdiction
- Simple assault within special aircraft jurisdiction
What a horrible event. I feel bad for the victim and cannot blame him for holding off initially in reporting – it takes courage to step out of your comfort zone and report bad behavior and I’m glad he finally did.
But this is a lesson for all of us: if you see something, say something…and don’t wait. Squeezing your butt? Touching your leg? Those were critical warning signs before the plane took off.
Don’t be afraid to report bad behavior. The system is not so corrupt that your complaint will fall upon deaf ears…at least on an airplane. Flight attendants are actually far more likely to be understanding, as many have experienced the same behavior.
CONCLUSION
Intoxication appears to be the root cause of another disgusting incident that took place on a flight to Denver. Hopefully Glasper will be held accountable for his actions and this story will embolden others not to tolerate abuse, even just a little bit, onboard a flight (or anywhere at all).
How would you have handled Robert Glasper III if he was your seatmate?
What happened to the “beat the crap out” of Mr. Glasper and put him to sleep toothless and bleeding as soon as he touched the victim’s hands in a weird way? Let the snowflakes begin!!!!! This victim is an example of the new generation that is all over this country. Weak, indoctrinated, politically correct “don’t hurt other peoples feelings” that have no action and prefer to be the victim. Being a victim gives more “likes” than doing the right thing.
Wow some machismo coming from the message board of a travel blog! I hope you practice what you preach, mi amigo!
Maybe you let finger you but you stay quiet to not hurt his feelings.
Oooo. Then you can go to jail as well! Such a tough man. Also curious if there is a man exposing himself to you and you don’t like I’m not sure moving closer to him and touching him is the answer. You have some pretty bad intuition. Or maybe confusion.
Yeah. So I get groped and also go to jail for beating up the grouper. Great plan tough guy. Or just report it,
What the hell, I can give you the attention you crave and stereotype too, Cletus. After a few more trolling posts on the interwebs, pat yourself on the back for owning the libs, put on your red cap, climb into your giant truck, drive like a total maniac asshole all the way home, and go inside your double-wide and play with the guns you have left from the divorce for beating your wife. K?
Wow, dude. I assume you mean well but this is not how we solve difficult situations. Really, I’m pretty shocked at your assessment. Not cool at all.
Wow dude!! This country has gone downhill. Try something like this guy did in any other country and you will see what will happen to him.
I’m sorry you are so angry to assume that. Perhaps if you believe this we are in a position to also set an example for “any other country in the world.” Which I take as hyperbole and not at all reality in such a blanket statement.
How weird is it to compare this isolated incident to societal collapse?! You are a drama queen. Also I hope you do respond as prescribed above so we can talk about your long custodial sentence in a future post.
And why so angry? Did this story touch a nerve? Clearly….I think it’s called homophobia.
@Stuart,
You are right, assaulting someone in return is not correct but what are you saying …… a person just sits there passively, cringes and takes it ?
What is wrong with people if they can’t just STAND UP, WALK AWAY, PUSH THE OFFENDER OFF YOU, START LOUDLY PROTESTING. ??? There are ways to stop the crazy person from attacking/ harassing you. I simply cannot understand people like you who would just sit there and take it. Apparently you would just sit there and allow someone to attack your child, wife, teen because you’re so afraid of not “offending” some drunk nut job ? This is exactly why society is “crippled” when it comes to taking action/ enforcing laws, etc.
Ok, look, I am not endorsing the idea of, “shhh, just take it.” My point is to question @Santastico to respond with violence. I agree, the person took way too much and could have responded sooner. But to turn it into immediate counter violence is not a solution. Had Santastico said, “It’s sad that this person was so frightened as to freeze in the situation, not properly stand his ground, and bring t it to the attention of others around him,” I would be completely in agreement. However, we have no idea why he froze, what he might be experiencing, the fear he might have.
People have anxieties, especially these days. Can we just for the love of god not put every single person into a box and say, “They should have beat the crap out of him!” Further, to call him a snowflake because he didn’t do that? This is cruel. And unfair. We all respond differently to stress. Fine, Santastico wants to give an aggresor a beat down, go at it. Others may panic and freeze in the meantime. So stop insisting that every damn person in the world needs to be a cowboy. Some just want peace. Some have issues with stress. Some don’t know what to do. Especially these days.
Want peace? Leave people alone. My kids learned in daycare: Min your own business. What is wrong with people nowadays? There is a very interesting saying in Brazil: “I give a bull to not get into a fight but the entire herd to not get out of one.” I never look for trouble but once someone crosses the line I won’t keep quiet just because I may hurt people’s feelings.
I imagine some people will check out the person doing the butt grabbing before deciding whether to notify a FA.
Matthew, I respectfully disagree. It is obvious that your intent was not to place blame on the victim, but you unwittingly did. These events DO fall on deaf ears much more than they should. Perhaps that has not been your experience, or the experiences you’ve heard, but never forget that more assaults go unreported than reported for this very reason, because so many people are turned away or not handled properly. That problem exists in our society as a whole.
With all due respect, I think you need to retract this article completely. Although I, as someone who has read your blog for years, do know that you never intended to blame the victim, quite the opposite in fact, you did, and that needs to be corrected. I trust you will do so in good time and that in the future you’ll remember that our system CAN BE so corrupt as to have these sorts of events land on deaf ears.
So basically every Saturday night at a gay bar in the 90’s.
I disagree with your assessment that alcohol is to blame here. Booze didn’t turn a mild mannered relatively normal person into a rabid sexual predator.
Never been around drunk horny people I take it?
If that’s what happens to you when you drink, I can completely understand you choosing the Mormon approach. The thing is, not only does that not ever happen to me but I’ve never even seen it happen. Ever. And I worked in a bar for years.
1. Intoxication isn’t the root cause, It merely emboldened him to act on the impulses he already had. He and he alone is the root cause.
2. There is no lesson here… other than sexual assault is still a, problem. Monday morning quarterbacking sexual assault is not good.
3. The individual with the alias Santastico is truly repugnant for victim blaming
This post and some of the comments in this post are a bad mark on an otherwise stellar blog.
Surprised the victim wasn’t charged with a hate crime for turning the gay guy in.
Poor choice of words on headline. As an editor, I would have written “Intoxicated man sexually assaults male seatmate” otherwise, the use of “male” is totally unnecessary in today’s world of gender equality.