American Airlines on Wednesday distanced itself from a court filing in a Texas lawsuit brought against the company by the family of a 9-year-old girl who was illicitly taped inside a bathroom in which it had suggested the girl “should have known” she was being recorded.
The airline, in a statement, said an outside legal counsel hired through its insurance company had made an error in the filing.
“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,” the airline said. “Our core mission is to care for people — and the foundation of that is the safety and security of our customers and team.”
The girl’s family has sued the airline and a former flight attendant, 36-year-old Estes Carter Thompson III, who is accused of secretly recording four young girls in the bathrooms aboard American Airlines flights. Thompson is charged with attempted sexual exploitation of children in Massachusetts. Thompson was “immediately withheld from service” after his arrest in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Thompson was indicted last month on one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of images of child sexual abuse depicting a prepubescent minor.
About midway through a Sept. 2, 2023, flight from Charlotte to Boston, the 14-year-old got up to use the main cabin lavatory nearest to her seat but found it was occupied, according to investigators.
Thompson told her the first-class lavatory was unoccupied and escorted her there, investigators said. She told investigators that before she entered the bathroom, Thompson told her he needed to wash his hands and that the toilet seat was broken.
After he left, the teen entered the bathroom and saw red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat lid, which was in the open position, officials said. Beneath the stickers, Thompson had concealed his iPhone to record a video, investigators said. The girl used her phone to take a picture of the stickers and concealed the iPhone before leaving.
Prosecutors also alleged that hundreds of images of child sexual abuse generated through artificial intelligence were found stored on Thompson’s iCloud account, as well as the images of the other four girls captured on earlier flights.
Among those four girls is the 9-year-old whose parents filed the Texas suit.
In the filing this week in the 261st District Court in Travis County, Texas, American Airlines argued that Thompson was “not acting within the course and scope of his employment” when he set up the system prosecutors say he used to film the girl.
And, the airline said “any injuries or illnesses alleged to have been sustained by” the girl were “proximately caused by” her own “fault and negligence” and were “proximately caused by [her] use of the compromised lavatory, which she knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device.”
The girl’s mother told The Boston Herald her family was shocked and angered by the response from the airline.
“Instead of taking responsibility for this awful event, American Airlines is actually blaming our daughter for being filmed,” she told the paper. “How in good conscience could they even make such a suggestion? It both shocks and angers us. American Airlines has no shame.”
The parents of the 14-year-old girl Thompson is accused of attempting to film on the Boston-bound flight told WCVB-TV that the airline’s “callous legal position” shocked them.
“Our hearts go out to the Texas family,” they told the station.
Estes has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Attempted sexual exploitation of children carries a sentence of 15-30 years in prison, while possessing images of sexual abuse of a prepubescent minor can mean up to 20 years in prison.
Both charges also provide for at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 and restitution.
Thompson is due back in court on July 1.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
