Passenger Forced Airplane Lavatory Door Open, Sexually Assaulted Woman
A man aboard a Japan Airlines flight last Saturday allegedly waited until a woman was in the plane's bathroom to force his way in and sexually assault her. The man closed the door behind him, and it took the entire flight crew and the man's mother to pry the door back open.
The suspect, 29-year-old Michael Tanouye, was traveling with his mother from Honolulu to Kansai in Japan when he allegedly followed the woman and forced his way into the bathroom.
He then tried to take the Japanese passenger's clothes off, before exposing himself, it is said. While struggling with Tanouye, the unnamed woman managed to push an emergency button.
However, she remained trapped with him for a few minutes as the flight crew, other passengers and her panicked mother tried to open the bathroom door, which the suspect was allegedly blocking.
The flight crew had to unscrew the hinges on the bathroom door to free the woman. After the incident, Tanouye's mother dosed him with medicine—he reportedly suffers from depression—and he fell asleep. Instead of continuing on to Japan, the pilot returned to Honolulu after two hours into the flight, where Tanouye was arrested for aggravated sexual assault and interfering with a flight crew by the FBI.
[Image via AP]