Executive Charged in Airline Attack, DefacationBy Gail Appleson,
Law Correspondent NEW YORK (Reuter) - The president of an investment banking company has been charged with assaulting a flight attendant after being refused alcoholic drinks and then defecating on a service cart in the first-class cabin.
Gerard Finneran, president of TCW Americas Development Inc., was arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn after the incident on a United Airlines flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to New York.
Finneran, 58, of Greenwich, Connecticut, is charged with intentionally assaulting and intimidating a flight attendant and interfering with the performance of an attendant. Finneran was released on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond.
Finneran is a former executive with Citicorp and Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. and is considered an expert in Third World debt. While at Citibank he managed the U.S. Corporate Finance Division and the Latin American and Canadian investment banking activities.
TCW is an affiliate of Los Angeles-based Trust Co. of the West. It is the general partner of TCW Americas Development Association L.P., a fund invested in Latin American debt and equities.
According to the complaint, Finneran began drinking alcoholic beverages before the flight took off and continued during the flight.
Prosecutors alleged that the crew initially served him beverages but he eventually started "getting up and serving alcoholic beverages to himself.''
When members of the crew told him to stop, he demanded they serve him more drinks, and when one male attendant refused, Finneran allegedly threatened to "bust his ass,'' the complaint said.
At the same time, another male attendant had been notified a passenger was ill and went to the cockpit to get a first aid kit. On his way back to the passenger, Finneran allegedly harrassed the attendant and delayed him from helping the sick passenger.
Prosecutors alleged that at another point in the flight, Finneran approached a female flight attendant and demanded that she serve him a drink. When she refused, he allegedly pushed her by placing both hands on her chest, causing her to fall into one of the seats on the plane.
A male flight attendant then entered the first-class section of the plane and saw Finneran "with his pants and underwear down defecating on a service cart used by the flight crew,'' the complaint said.
"Finneran then used linen napkins as toilet paper and wiped his hands on various service counters and service implements used by the crew,'' the complaint alleged. "Finneran also tracked feces throughout the aircraft.'' In response, the captain of the flight, which was four hours from New York, suspended all food and beverage service due to the possibility of an infectious condition.
Finneran's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment. Reut17:35 10-24-95
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