A Delta passenger says he was groped after leaving Detroit on a flight to Denver Sunday night.

"I'd like for these airlines to recognize someone visibly intoxicated to not let them on the plane," said Donald Deschamps. "The first time I thought it was just a child and someone grabbing me."

Deschamps says a drunk woman sitting behind him on the Delta flight groped him minutes before the plane was to take off.

"The second time it happened I jumped up and said, 'Excuse me,'" he said.

Deschamps motioned for flight attendants and told them about the touchy feely passenger behind him.

"The flight attendants said, 'Is this a joke, are you two joking?' I said no this is not a joke," Deschamps said.


The flight attendants escorted the woman off the plane but did not report the incident to airport authority police.

"They had to actually walk her off," Deschamps said. "Because she was so intoxicated. She could not walk on her own."

Deschamps, now in Boulder, Colorado, says he wonders what would've happened had it been the other way around.

"Shoe on the other foot or not, man or woman, no one should be assaulted," he said. "But you don't hear it often from a man saying he was assaulted by a woman."

Delta Airlines said it is not uncommon for a passenger to have a drink before boarding a plane. But attendants will remove them if they are deemed unfit for travel.

Deschamps plans on filing a report with the airport authority police.