Iurii Chumak, Drunk British Airways Passenger, Gropes Flight Attendant, Pleads Guilty (UPDATE)
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Iurii Chumak, 53, was sitting in row 42 of the British Airways jet, reportedly drinking Dewar's from a bottle.
An unidentified flight attendant was serving passengers coffee at the time of the incident. Chumak had reportedly "bothered and abused" a seatmate's wife before the incident.
After the flight attendant served him, she turned away to serve others in the row. That's when Chumak reportedly put his hand up her skirt and felt her up.
A second flight attendant saw Chumak's actions and placed him in restraints. According to flight attendants, Chumak was drinking and fell asleep, waking up in restraints.
Chumak was held up at Customs and reportedly appeared in court.
Intoxicated fliers appear to be on the increase: Back in April, a drunk passenger caused a Paris-bound jet to detour. It was reported on Tuesday that a drunk New York man, also en route to Paris, claimed his name was bin Laden at an Air France check-in counter.
UPDATE 6/9: Chumak pled guilty in Brooklyn federal court on Thursday to the charges that he groped the British Airways flight attendant.
Chumak was on a connecting flight from Kiev on a group tour bound for New York and California when the incident happened, his lawyer told the New York Post. "I'm very sorry that it happened," Chumak told the judge, attributing his behavior to "blood sugar levels" (he was downing Dewar's, after all).
The would-be vacation of the U.S. has turned into a one and a half month stint behind bars in federal prison at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center. He faces a sentence of six months in jail, a $5,000 fine and eventual deportation.
Is the potential sentence fair or foul? Leave it in comments.
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if they're deporting him, why are we wasting our taxpayers' money on his imprisonment? to teach him a lesson then send him on his way to another country? Keep him in the country so this woman can sue him and get something out of it, instead of wasting thousands of taxpayer dollars imprisoning him then kicking him out... the best solution (which of course means that it will never happen) would be to fine his fat ass $30,000, give at least half to the stewardess, and deport him from the country.
June 10 2011 at 4:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHe should also be tagged as a registered sex offender on his passport and manifests of all airlines, and not allowed back in the U.S. again!! Let him laugh now and blame his diabetes--sure!
June 10 2011 at 3:57 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHe should also be tagged as a sex offender and not allowed to enter the U.S. again!! Let's see how funny he thinks that is.
June 10 2011 at 3:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyGive the poor dumbass another drink, then throw his ass in jail for six months.
June 10 2011 at 3:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyGet drunk, get stupid, get what you deserve...on an airplane, he got off easy.
June 10 2011 at 3:39 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply4th degree assault - groping, a misdemeanor. Maximum sentence should be 6th months in jail and $ 500.00 fine. But in the airborne gulag, different rules aplly.
June 10 2011 at 3:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyShould of gotten more, federal offense....but, at least he's serving time....GOOD
June 10 2011 at 3:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyGeez, can't have any fun on the airlines anymore. More concern ought to be given to the soldiers that had to pay extra for their luggage on Delta. Delta..rat bastids! ungrateful morons!
June 10 2011 at 2:34 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replyfair yes you old enough to drinkl be held acountable for your actions. let him go to jail and get grop
and lets see if he likes it.
He'll be released within a couple weeks no doubt -- we don't even have enough room in our jails and prisons for dangerous criminals, much less hiney-grabbers. As for the fine, he'll plead that he needs the tour company to make a full refund so he can pay it -- that argument will be tied up in the court system for years gobbling up tax payer dollars. Out about five years, the whole thing will get dismissed since he is back in Kiev having a Dewars on ice laughing at the stupid American system.
June 10 2011 at 2:15 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyFrontrng80,
He will do his 6 months the Feds have plenty of room. The feds only give 60 days a year good time on sentences over 2 years. However, I doubt if he gets groped, due to the way detention centers are run.
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