Off-duty cops restrain passenger groping woman, threatening others on flight, feds say
Two off-duty police officers helped restrain a man accused of groping a woman and threatening other passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight, according to court documents.
Adam David Seymour, 38, of Seattle, was in a “blackout state” after boarding the plane intoxicated and drinking whiskey from hand sanitizer bottles he brought onto the April 5, 2023 flight, a sentencing memorandum filed on his behalf says.
After he was restrained, he “woke up in jail having no recollection” of what happened, Seymour’s federal public defender Burke Wonnell wrote in the memo.
Nearly nine months later, Seymour has avoided a prison sentence sought by prosecutors, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska.
He was sentenced on Dec. 28 to one year of home confinement for interfering with a flight crew, the attorney’s office announced in a Jan. 2 news release. His sentence will be followed by two years of supervised release.
Wonnell declined a request for comment from McClatchy News on Jan. 3.
Seymour is banned from flying with Alaska Airlines as a result of the incident, a company spokesperson told McClatchy News in a statement on Jan. 3.
What happened on the flight?
After the Anchorage-bound flight left Seattle, Seymour ordered and drank additional alcoholic beverages while seated next to the woman he’s accused of harassing and groping, according to a sentencing memo filed by prosecutors.
Initially, he touched the woman’s iPad, then rubbed her thigh, knee and “tried to rest his head on her shoulder,” the sentencing memo says.
“(Seymour) eventually tapped the female passenger several times in the groin region over a blanket she had on her lap,” according to prosecutors.
When the woman was unable to catch flight attendants’ attention, she quietly asked passengers in front of her — who were off-duty police officers — for help by passing her phone with a note, the sentencing memo says.
Before Seymour was removed from his seat with the help of the police officers, he lit a cigarette, the filing says.
He also threatened to “kill” one passenger, “assaulted a third” and told others “the plane was going to crash and everyone would die,” according to the attorney’s office.
Flight attendants and the off-duty officers ultimately restrained Seymour in a jump seat located in the front of the aircraft — before he broke out of the restraints, prosecutors said.
Then, he was restrained in the seat again, according to prosecutors.
The two officers stayed with Seymour until the flight landed in Anchorage, prosecutors said.
The Alaska Airlines spokesperson told McClatchy News that the flight attendants who responded to the incident followed the company’s “safety and security procedures.”
When the plane landed, local authorities “removed” Seymour and “federal authorities then became involved,” the Alaska Airlines spokesperson said.
“His erratic behavior and threats placed passengers and crew in fear for their safety and diverted crew attention away from their duties,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo.
Ahead of sentencing, they recommended a one year prison sentence for Seymour, the memo shows.
Prosecutors noted Seymour has “an alcohol abuse problem,” has prior criminal convictions related to alcohol and has “completed outpatient therapy” since the April 5 flight.
Ultimately, the court sided with Burke’s recommendation of a sentence of home detention for his client instead of incarceration.
As part of Seymour’s sentencing, he must complete community service, according to the attorney’s office.
“Engaging in violent, harassing or obscene behavior while on an aircraft is a federal crime and can result in serious penalties,” U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker, of the District of Alaska, said in a statement.
“Potential perpetrators should think twice before engaging in similar conduct aboard an aircraft because we will prosecute these crimes,” Tucker added.
McClatchy News contacted Alaska Airlines for comment on Jan. 3 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
This story was originally published January 3, 2024 at 12:13 PM with the headline "Off-duty cops restrain passenger groping woman, threatening others on flight, feds say."
.jpg)