In a deeply disturbing incident, a 9-year-old girl was clandestinely filmed in an airplane's restroom by a male flight attendant employed by American Airlines. The family of the young girl has taken legal action against the airline, which has shockingly responded with victim-blaming tactics. According to American Airlines, the incident was the girl’s "own fault" and she "should have known" about the hidden camera. This reaction has garnered significant criticism, with many describing it as "shameful and outrageous."
American Airlines, one of the largest carriers in the United States and the largest in the world by scheduled passengers, is under fire for its handling of this serious issue. The airline’s legal team, in a defense widely criticized as inappropriate, argued that the 9-year-old bore some responsibility for the incident. They claimed that she "should have known" about the concealed recording device, as reported by the Daily Mail.
The incident has brought to light the actions of 37-year-old flight attendant Estes Carter Thompson III, who was arrested in January for secretly recording four underage girls, aged 7, 9, 11, and 14, on multiple American Airlines flights. Following these revelations, Thompson was suspended by the airline.
The series of crimes came to public attention when a 14-year-old girl informed her family about the presence of a camera in the airplane’s lavatory. An investigation by the FBI revealed additional victims, including the 9-year-old girl from Texas. The search of Thompson’s devices and iCloud account uncovered further incriminating evidence, including AI-generated pornography, as reported by the Daily Mail.
The family of the 9-year-old girl expressed their horror and distress, stating, "It felt like we were living in a nightmare when the FBI showed up on our doorstep to tell us that our daughter had been secretly filmed by an American Airlines flight attendant. Since then, our daughter has struggled with fear and anxiety," as quoted by the Daily Mail.
In their legal defense, American Airlines invoked concepts such as "comparative negligence" and "contributory negligence," essentially arguing that any harm suffered was due to the girl's own actions. Their defense claimed that the girl’s injuries were her "own fault" and that she "should have known" about the visible and illuminated recording device in the lavatory.
The family’s lawyer, Caroline Recupero, denounced this defense as both "shameful and absolutely outrageous." She highlighted the absurdity of blaming a 9-year-old for being filmed by an adult in a position of trust.
The lawsuit filed by the girl’s parents details that in January 2023, Thompson took illicit photographs of their daughter while she was using the restroom during a flight to Los Angeles. The family was en route to Disney World and a gymnastics competition when the incident occurred. The FBI later recovered images from Thompson’s iCloud showing explicit pictures of the girl, according to the Daily Mail.
How Thompson concealed the camera involved directing a 14-year-old girl to the first-class bathroom under the pretext of washing his hands and informing her about a broken toilet seat. Inside the bathroom, the girl discovered red stickers on the underside of the toilet seat, concealing an iPhone set up to record video. She discreetly took a picture of the hidden device and reported it.
Thompson, hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina, faces charges of attempted sexual exploitation of children and possession of child sexual abuse images. Prosecutors disclosed that he stored hundreds of AI-generated images of child sexual abuse on his iCloud account.
This case has sparked widespread outrage and calls for accountability, not just for Thompson, but also for American Airlines’ handling of the situation.
