Of all the things you brace for at the airport gate, getting peed on shouldn't be one of them. But that's what a mother and her 7-year-old son say happened at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport last Tuesday, Nov. 3. According to an arrest affidavit, a 48-year-old man sitting across from the family at gate E6 exposed himself and urinated toward them, splashing both the mom and the boy. The father managed to avoid it.
Deputies say the man was drunk. He was arrested on six charges, including battery involving a child coming into contact with bodily fluids, battery, three counts of indecent exposure and disorderly intoxication, and was released on a $5,000 bond. None of the charges have been proven in court.
Florida Has a Law for Exactly This
The most serious charge isn't a catch-all. Florida has a specific law against battery on a child using bodily fluids, and it's a third-degree felony that can carry up to five years in prison. The fact that the state saw a need to write that law down says a lot, though in fairness, the "Florida Man" headlines may say more about how closely everyone watches Florida than about Florida itself.
The other charges are misdemeanors, but together they're a reminder that what happens at the gate isn't a free-for-all just because you haven't boarded yet. Airports are covered by the same laws as anywhere else, and they're full of cameras, police and witnesses.
It Keeps Happening
Honestly, peeing at the gate is unfathomable to me. I spend a ridiculous amount of time in airports, and I'm convinced some people switch their brains off the moment they get through security, as if the normal rules of being a person stop applying past the checkpoint.
Sadly, this isn't a one-off. A man was accused of urinating on a sleeping woman in a Memphis airport terminal, an Air Canada passenger reportedly peed on the floor at a gate in Calgary, and one Frontier passenger said urine ran onto his leg and shoes and the airline offered him a $75 voucher. I wrote about a British Airways passenger whose seat was soaked in urine when she sat down, and the crew's answer was hand sanitizer.
The common thread in many of these cases is alcohol. Airport bars open early, layovers run long and some people show up to the gate a few drinks deep. It's the same story behind a lot of the unruly passenger incidents that end with police meeting a plane.
What to Do If Something Like This Happens at Your Gate
First, get yourself and your family away from the person. Your safety matters more than your seat or your spot in the boarding line. Then tell the gate agent right away and ask them to call airport police. Gate agents deal with this kind of thing more than you'd think, and they can also stop a visibly drunk passenger from boarding, which is the airline's call to make.
If you can do it safely, note the time, gate and what the person looked like, and ask anyone who saw it to stay or share their contact info. Police will want statements, and cameras cover almost every gate. If your clothes are ruined or you miss your flight because you're giving a statement, ask the airline to rebook you at no cost and keep your receipts for anything you have to buy.
Most of us will never deal with anything like this. But if you do, speaking up fast is what gets the person off your flight and in front of the people who can actually do something about it.
