News Destination Mars: Special Section 3700 hotels worldwide- click here for immediate on-line reservations Search and Feedback NEWS Passenger dragged half-naked from plane lavatory sues lavatory lawsuit graphic July 3, 1997 Web posted at: 5:07 p.m. EDT (2107 GMT) NEW YORK (AP) -- Caught with his pants down on a trans-Atlanticflight, a New York businessman insists he is innocent. Raviv Laor says he was dragged from the bathroom of an AirFrance plane with his trousers around his ankles and toilet paperin his hand because a flight attendant wrongly thought he wassneaking a smoke. Laor, who says a malfunctioning smoke alarm went off, is suingthe airline for $12 million for his humiliation. He says he went tocourt after failing to get an apology or even a reply from theairline. Air France said Thursday that it was reviewing Laor's allegationsand would "respond in due course in the appropriate forum" afterconducting its own investigation. 'The depth of my embarrassment I cannot begin to describe' The lawsuit, filed last month in Manhattan Supreme Court,asserts that 20 minutes into a flight from Paris to Newark Airporton May 19, crew members broke into the locked lavatory andassaulted Laor. "The crew members then, while Laor was naked from the waistdown, dragged him outside the lavatory, exposing his genitals andother body parts to many seated passengers, both female and male,"the lawsuit said. "I was terrified," said Laor, 28, who owns a computer servicescompany. "My first reaction was 'My God, something must havehappened to the plane.'" "The depth of my embarrassment I cannot begin to describe," hesaid. Laor says he neither smokes nor drinks, and had opted for anonsmoking flight. He said his protestations were answered with a threat that hewould be arrested for arguing with the crew. The flight purser "told me I did not have the right to expectprivacy" and complained that Americans were "always screamingabout their rights," Laor said. "An official apology from Air France would have made adifference, but now too much time has elapsed," Laor says. Copyright 1997 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. rule Note: Pages will open in a new browser window. Related story: * Flight attendant secondhand smoke trial under way - June 2, 1997 Related site: * Air France To Top © 1997 Cable News Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you.