A man has been banned from United Airlines after reportedly urinating on another passenger.
Nicole Cornell told SFGate via email that her stepfather, Jerome Gutierrez, had been flying in business class on a United flight from San Francisco International Airport to Manila, Philippines on Dec. 27 when the incident happened.
According to Cornell, a passenger got up from his seat on UA Flight 189, went up to Gutierrez and began urinating on him about four hours into the flight as he was resting.
Gutierrez “was asleep and buckled in, and was surprised when he [saw] the man and thought he was dreaming,” Cornell alleged in an email to the outlet. However, it took her stepdad several moments before he finally grasped what was happening.
PEOPLE was not able to reach Cornell for comment.
“Jerome realized he was soaked from his stomach down in that man’s urine,” she explained.
After the incident, Cornell noted that flight attendants provided her stepfather with “pajamas to wear” but allegedly warned Gutierrez “not to approach the man in fear that there would be a confrontation, and he would become violent.”
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A spokesperson for United Airlines told PEOPLE in a statement that the crew “asked police to meet our flight when it arrived in Manila” on Dec. 28 to “address a passenger disturbance,” but would not. address the details — or the cause — of the incident.
The spokesperson also noted in the company’s response that it had “banned the passenger” that caused the disturbance from all future United flights.
Cornell stated in her email to SFGate that she was “disgusted” by how the flight crew responded and said that she believed different action should have been taken on board the approximately 15-hour flight.
“They put the needs of the airline before my stepdad’s health,” Cornell wrote. “I am so disgusted and in shock with how United Airlines handled this! That is a biohazard, and the plane should’ve turned around to address this issue.”
Cornell said that the man who urinated on her stepfather eventually apologized to her parents and “begged them not to press charges.”
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