Wasted Plane Traveler Groped Seatmate, Told Her ‘We’re All Going to Die,’ Feds Say

A man flying from Washington to Alaska allegedly drank himself into a stupor, groped his seatmate’s legs while peppering her with vulgar come-ons, then lit up a cigarette, guzzled a bottle of hand sanitizer, and told other passengers they were all going to die.

The disturbing incident only ended when a pair of off-duty cops aboard the plane were able to restrain the suspect with flex cuffs—which he eventually managed to bust out of, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Daily Beast.

When Adam David Seymour, 37, boarded Alaska Airlines flight 49 on the morning of April 5, traveling from Seattle to Anchorage, he seemed “friendly at first,” the complaint states. Seymour, seated on the aisle, soon pulled out three travel-size toiletry bottles, the woman sitting in the middle seat next to him, identified in the complaint as “D.S.,” later told investigators.

“Each bottle was a different color: pink, green, and blue,” the complaint says. “D.S. stated immediately after boarding the plane and sitting down, Seymour opened the green bottle and proceeded to drink the contents. D.S. could not see what was inside the bottle because they [sic] were colored.”

Seymour ordered two Jack-and-Cokes during the first beverage service, after which “his behavior changed,” according to the complaint, which says Seymour “started slurring his words, began moving physically closer to D.S., rubbed her lower thigh and knee on the inner and outer areas without her consent, and tried to rest his head on her shoulder.”

“Seymour made multiple comments to D.S. about her sexuality, including that he thought she ‘looked like a lesbian,’” the complaint continues. “Seymour asked D.S. other intrusive personal questions. At first, D.S. did not answer Seymour. Based on his demeanor and behavior, D.S. was worried what Seymour would do to her if she said something that triggered him.”

But Seymour didn’t stop, according to the complaint, continuing to ask D.S. if she was gay and “talking about licking D.S. ‘down there.’” She tried to lean away from Seymour every time he moved in to touch her, the complaint states.

That’s when Seymour allegedly told D.S. that “we’re all going to die,” gesturing with his hands in a way that looked like a plane crashing. Frightened, D.S. tried to get the attention of a flight attendant, but couldn’t.

“Seymour continued asking D.S. if she was a lesbian and making sexual comments saying to D.S. that, he ‘could pussy real good,’” the complaint goes on. “D.S. had a blanket resting on her lap in between her legs. After Seymour made that comment, he moved his hand in between D.S.’s legs and tapped her multiple times over the blanket, directly over her genitals. D.S. immediately closed her legs, leaned forward, and turned her back to him.”

A few minutes later, D.S. “heard a sparking sound,” and turned to Seymour, who was now holding a lighter and smoking a cigarette, according to the complaint. D.S. yelled at Seymour that smoking wasn’t allowed aboard the aircraft, to which he responded, “I’m a bad person.”

Still unable to flag down a crewmember, D.S. typed out a message on her phone and slid it between the seats in front of her. The two people sitting there, IDed in the complaint as “C.A.” and “K.B.,” both happened to be off-duty police officers, it says. After reading D.S.’s plea, K.B. went and got a flight attendant, who moved D.S. to another seat.

M.R., a passenger who had switched seats with D.S., also quickly found himself on Seymour’s bad side. Seymour allegedly pushed M.R. as soon as he sat down, after which Seymour offered him a swig of the whiskey he had brought with him, the complaint states. After a brief pause, Seymour “then elbowed M.R. in his side, pushed M.R.’s shoulders, and passed out on M.R.’s shoulder,” according to the complaint.

Seymour also allegedly “became upset with R.N., the passenger sitting in the window seat, and stated he wanted to fight him.” He then asked one of the flight attendants to bring him a beer, which she declined “due to his apparent impairment.” The flight attendant, who is identified in the complaint as “B.H.,” said she “witnessed Seymour drinking something and asked him what it was, to which Seymour replied, ‘hand sanitizer,’” the complaint states.

“B.H. stated the other passengers told her Seymour was threatening to kill people and saying that they were all going to die, and the plane was going to crash,” the complaint says.

When R.N. told Seymour to “leave people alone,” and to “stay in his lane,” Seymour told R.N. that he would “smoke” him, according to the complaint. At this point, C.A. and K.B., the pair of off-duty officers, had finally seen enough. They restrained Seymour with flex cuffs and moved him to a jumpseat up front. But Seymour soon “forced his hands out of the restraints and had to be placed in them again.”

The two cops stayed with Seymour until the plane landed at Ted Stevens International Airport at around 12:35 p.m., and airport police arrived.

In an interview with officers and FBI agents, R.N. described Seymour as “clearly so wasted it was impossible to tell if he would explode,” the complaint states.

Police said Seymour refused to take a breathalyzer test, but that a task force officer at Ted Stevens International said Seymour’s hands were swabbed with an ion scanner, which “alarmed for the presence of cocaine.” Seymour was then taken to the Anchorage Correctional Complex, where he again refused a breathalyzer by a nurse during intake. He now faces two federal assault charges.

An Alaska Airlines spokesperson confirmed Seymour’s arrest to The Daily Beast, saying that local authorities “removed” Seymour from flight 49 after causing a “disturbance.”

“We cannot comment on our decisions to ban particular guests, but we do have policies in place that can prevent future travel,” the spokesperson said.

On April 7, two days after Seymour’s alleged outburst, another Alaska Airlines crew was forced to zip-tie a woman to her seat after authorities say she fell asleep in the lavatory, then rushed a group of flight attendants while screaming, “I’m going to kill you unless you land the plane right now.” The flight was headed from San Francisco to Chicago, but diverted to Kansas City because the pilot was concerned for passengers’ safety, according to a criminal complaint filed in Missouri federal court.

On April 3, two days prior to Seymour’s unnerving episode, a passenger aboard Alaska Airlines flight 67 from Ketchikan to Anchorage was pinned to his seat by two flight attendants and a group of off-duty law enforcement officers after refusing to sit down while the plane was making its final descent and physically assaulting a member of the flight crew who asked him to return to his seat, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday.

Last year, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) fielded 2,456 unruly passenger reports, initiated 831 investigations, and 567 enforcement actions, proposing nearly $8.5 million in fines.

If convicted on both counts, Seymour, who was released on his own recognizance but ordered to turn in his passport and abstain from alcohol, faces a maximum of 11 years in prison. He is due to appear in a virtual court hearing on April 27.

In an email, Seymour’s court-appointed lawyer, Burke Wonnell, declined to comment.

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