A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight from Seattle to Phoenix was arrested and faces federal charges after he allegedly pulled his pants down and masturbated at least four times in front of a female passenger. He reportedly started committing the lewd acts shortly after takeoff, according to a criminal complaint.
The suspect, Antonio Sherrodd McGarity, was arrested by officers from the Phoenix Police Department when the flight landed in Arizona on Saturday. McGarity reportedly told officers that he didn't do anything wrong and added that he "thought it was kind of kinky."
The criminal complaint reads, "McGarity was seated in seat 11F and the female witness was seated in seat 11E. Shortly after taking off, and while the aircraft was in the air, McGarity exposed his penis by pulling down his pants and shorts and began masturbating."
When the female passenger noticed what he was doing, she took photos of him on her phone. McGarity allegedly fell asleep after masturbating for about an hour, and the passenger notified a member of the Southwest crew what she saw and requested to be moved to a different seat.
The complaint adds that the police also interviewed the female passenger when they landed, and she reportedly told them that she saw McGarity masturbating "on four separate occasions, using both his left and right hands."
McGarity was also interviewed by the FBI and he allegedly admitted to what he did on the flight to them. However, McGarity told them that he asked the female victim if she minded if he masturbated, and she replied by throwing her hands in the air and said, "It really doesn't matter." McGarity said he thought her response was "kind of kinky" and thought that the victim was okay with him playing with himself.
A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines told The Daily Beast that McGarity has been permanently banned from all of their flights. "On April 2, we received reports of inappropriate Customer behavior on flight 3814 from SEA to PHX. The situation was reported to Crewmembers while inflight, and the Captain contacted law enforcement to meet the aircraft upon arrival. We immediately placed the passenger on our No-Fly List, resulting in a lifetime ban from traveling on Southwest."