Elizabeth Smart says Delta passenger sexually assaulted her
She recalled how she awoke to find the man touching her inappropriately
School children in Los Angeles speak out after the scary incident; Jonathan Hunt reports on what happened.
Elizabeth Smart, the woman who was abducted when she was only 14, revealed she was sexually assaulted last year while aboard a Delta Air Lines flight.
Smart, who was previously sexually assaulted after her 2002 kidnapping, told CBS "This Morning’s" Gayle King on Thursday the man sitting next to her touched her inappropriately while she slept during a Utah-bound flight in the summer of 2019.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DAL | DELTA AIR LINES INC. | 63.34 | 0.00 | 0.00% |
“I had been asleep and all of a sudden I woke up because I felt someone’s hand rubbing in between my legs on my inner thigh,” she told King. “The last time someone touched me without my say-so was when I was kidnapped. And I froze. I didn’t know what to do. And I speak to other women about this.”
She demonstrated during the interview how he rubbed her thigh and said, despite how she “jerked awake,” he said nothing.
"We took the matter seriously and have continued to cooperate with Ms. Smart and the appropriate authorities as the matter is investigated," a Delta Air Lines spokesperson wrote in a statement to FOX Business. "Delta does not tolerate passenger misconduct towards other customers or Delta employees.”
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Smart, now 32, was 14 years old in 2002 when she was taken from her Salt Lake City home at knifepoint. She was held hostage and repeatedly raped by her captor, Brian David Mitchell, for nine months before she was rescued.
"I kept saying to myself: 'You're Elizabeth Smart. You should know what to do.'"
She told King she later filed a complaint with the airline, which she identified as Delta.
Elizabeth Smart arrives for a news conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2018. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
“I wanted Delta to know. They were appalled," she said. "They offered to help as much as they could to back me up as far as I wanted to take this. They had all of his information.”
She said she followed up with the FBI, and the investigation is ongoing.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report. This story was updated to include a statement from Delta.
The report was updated to include a statement from a Delta Air Lines spokesperson.