DETROIT – A pastor is being sued for millions of dollars on accusations he stood up in the middle of a flight to Detroit, walked over to a sleeping woman and peed on her, according to records.
A complaint accuses Pastor Daniel Chalmers, a North Carolina resident, of drunkenly urinating on a woman during Delta flight 874 from Las Vegas to Detroit on Oct. 13 or Oct. 14.
Recommended Videos
The woman has hired attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Chalmers.
What happened
Fieger claims Chalmers boarded the plane with a blood-alcohol content above .17. The flight was scheduled to depart at 11:30 p.m. PT Oct. 13 and land in Detroit at 6:15 a.m. ET Oct. 14.
The woman, a Detroit resident, got on the plane with her sister, according to the complaint. She was sitting in seat 23C and her sister in seat 23A, documents show.
Shortly after takeoff, the woman put a mask over her eyes and fell asleep, the complaint says.
“(She) felt something warm toucher her and immediately woke up,” the complaint reads.
The woman said she saw Chalmers standing next to her with his pants unzipped and his private parts exposed, records show. She screamed, waking up the other passengers on the plane, according to the complaint.
“(She) immediately realized that she had been urinated on by Chalmers,” the complaint says.
An off-duty police officer arrested Chalmers when the woman screamed, officials said.
Fieger is also accusing Chalmers of touching the woman inappropriately, exposing himself to her and acting in a reckless manner.
The complaint accuses Chalmers of physically touching the woman’s body without consent.
Chalmers was taken into custody when the plane landed in Detroit, officials said.
Charges
“It is difficult to believe that a church would hire a pastor who boarded a plane drunk and has a proclivity to urinate on passengers," Fieger said in a statement. “Considering the times we are living in, nothing surprises me anymore.”
The woman said she was emotionally and mentally distressed, humiliated, mortified, frightened and shocked by the alleged incident, according to the complaint.
The complaint claims Chalmers should face the following charges:
- Negligence, gross negligence, wanton and willful misconduct
- Sexual assault and battery
- Infliction of emotional distress
Love Wins Ministries, Chalmers' employer in North Carolina, is accused of negligent hiring, training supervision and/or intervention, as well as vicarious liability.
“(Love Wins Ministries) had the duty and capability to engage in proper screening of its employees before entrusting them to travel on their behalf,” the complaint reads.
Fieger claims Love Wins Ministries was negligent for hiring a pastor who “lacked the appropriate skills and/or knowledge to not urinate on others.”
He also accuses the employer of “failing to properly train (Chalmers) in how to appropriately interact when flying, ensuring that employees never resort to urinating on others.”
The five counts request an amount in excess of $2 million.