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NWA worker charged with assault for in-flight incident

March 6, 2007

BY JOY POWELL

STAR TRIBUNE

An off-duty Northwest Airlines employee was arrested Monday after he allegedly touched a female passenger as she tried to sleep and ejaculated on her, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Minneapolis.

Samuel Oscar Gonzalez, 20, of Lakewood, Wash., was charged with simple assault, a misdemeanor, in U.S. District Court, where he made an initial appearance Monday night. He was in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and was being held in the Sherburne County jail.

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The incident was reported just before dawn on Flight 154, a red-eye flight from Seattle to Minneapolis.

Later Monday, Northwest Airlines said in a statement that an equipment service employee, traveling as a passenger on the flight, has been suspended pending a review of the incident. It declined to provide other details, except to say it is cooperating with law enforcement.

Equipment service employees handle customer bags, de-ice airplanes and other tasks.

The flight left Seattle at 12:44 a.m. and arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport at 5:35 a.m. Late in the flight, the complaint says, a female passenger told airline attendants and the FBI that she was in her aisle seat, trying to sleep, when a man moved into the middle seat next to her.

He began touching her in a way that she described as "spooning," the complaint says. She felt her shirt move up her back followed by some additional touching, and then the man got up and walked toward the forward part of the plane. When the woman reached to adjust her shirt, the complaint says, she discovered warm fluid, which she described as semen, on her back, side, clothing and a seat.

The woman notified a flight attendant and identified Gonzalez. The woman was moved to another seat for the rest of the flight and attendants notified Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport police, who met with the woman and detained Gonzalez after the plane landed.

"I've never heard of anything like this happening before," said Pat Hogan, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission. "Not in the six and a half years I've been at the Airports Commission."

Chris Kawater, assistant chief of the U.S. Marshals Office in Minneapolis, said that in his 24 years of service, he had never heard of such a case.

FBI agent Michael Cannizzaro, one of two airport liaison agents, alleged in the complaint that Gonzalez had "knowingly and intentionally committed a simple assault." That offense is punishable by up to six months in jail and a possible fine.

The risk of disease transmission in such a situation is remote, said one expert.

"It's not likely to be any risk at all, even if you were looking at the standard agents like HIV, hepatitis B or herpes," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the U of M's Center for Infectious Disease, Research and Policy. He said to become infected, a person would have to have a wide-open fresh cut or have the fluids come in contact with mucous membranes.

Equipment service employees are covered by a union contract. Stephen Gordon, an official with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, declined to comment on Monday.

All new Northwest employees must meet certain federal government and company employment standards, NWA spokesman Bill Mellon said Monday night. But he declined to specify what type of background checks might be performed before ground workers are hired.

Northwest did not explain precisely how it is equipped to handle assaults that might occur between passengers or passengers and crew.

"For security reasons, we don't discuss the handling of in-flight incidents," Mellon said. "But our flight attendants and pilots are trained to handle issues that might arise during a flight."

Staff writer Liz Fedor contributed to this report.

Joy Powell - 612-673-7750 - [email protected]