Weekly News Post #22

Man Tasered On Plane

Jacob Garcia

An altercation between two males on a flight emerged after passenger Jacob Garcia was accused of 'fondling' the second male's girlfriend. After Garcia supposedly touched the female, he was reported, to which he was asked to move seats. Garcia refused to move and hurled insults around the plane.

Garcia is shown to be held down by three police officers in a video recorded by a fellow passenger. In the video, Garcia asks "What is the reason you're removing me from this plane?" to which it can be heard someone replying "Well, you just assaulted a lady, for one", and commented on Garcia being racist. After struggling with the police, Garcia is tasered. Sergeant Lazaro Llerena from Miami-Dade police said to NBC that Garcia, during the struggle, had attempted to reach for an officers gun, but failed to remove it. 

Once removed from the plane, Jacob Garcia was charged with battery, depriving an officer of a firearm, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct. Not one of the 5 charges are about the original issue to which following events resulted from- groping a female passenger. The act of groping is filed under sexual battery in Florida laws, so why wasn't Garcia charged with it? I mean, according to the video, there are clear witnesses. This just highlights issues surrounding crimes of a sexual nature and suggests there is a mind-set about sexual crimes in which they aren't as serious as they should be, or as serious as disorderly conduct. This mind-set can also be seen as President of the US has been accused of groping, yet no one seems to have batted an eyelid. In the UK it's estimated that 648,000 people (both male and female) between the ages of 16-59 were sexually assaulted in 2016-2017. Research by the organisation Stop Street Harassment shows that 65% of women have experienced a form of street harassment; 23% have been sexually harassed in the US. These figures show that sexual harassment is a big societal issue that is more serious than seems to be. If so many people are experiencing any type of sexual crime, why does it seem so little is being done? And more to the point, why is it even a problem in the first place? In my opinion sexual crimes are perpetrated by people who see it as the norm, or as their right to commit these offences. Norms and values are learnt through socialisation from the family and wider society, so these perpetrators must have been socialised to think that that behaviour is okay- demonstrating there is a problem with how sexual crimes at viewed in society, and this needs to be corrected; because not a single person has the right to touch another person in a sexual way without consent, regardless of age, gender, race, or ethnicity. 

Reference:

Chaplain, Chloe. (2018). Man tasered on American Airlines flight after 'groping female passenger'. Available: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/man-tasered-on-american-airlines-flight-after-groping-female-passenger-a3822356.html. Last accessed 24th Apr 2018.