Flight attendant facing charges of drugging a child

[Gilly Bean]

I don't know if anyone posted this already, but I just read this, and was saddened.

The apple juice was bitter. Foamy. Blue and white specks floated in it.

So Beate Turner of Oakland County took the juice from her toddler, poured it into another container and carried it off the jet after Northwest Flight 47 landed at Detroit Metro Airport.

That act resulted in criminal charges Thursday, with a former Northwest flight attendant accused of spiking a 19-month-old girl's juice to stop her crying during a flight.

Daniel Reed Cunningham of Ann Arbor is charged with drugging the toddler with a prescription depressant during a flight last August from Amsterdam. The girl drank some of the juice but suffered no serious injury, officials said.

The incident came to light after Turner sipped the apple juice that Cunningham had given her daughter during the Aug. 25 flight. After noticing the taste and appearance, she decided to have the liquid tested.

Ten days after the flight, she took the juice to a laboratory in Novi, which confirmed the presence of Xanax, a prescription medication for panic attacks and anxiety, the FBI said. Cunningham, 33, was charged in U.S. District Court with assault and distributing a controlled substance. He also was charged with importing more than 100 tablets of a non-narcotic controlled substance -- including Valium and Xanax -- into the United States on a different flight in October.

Cunningham could not be reached Thursday but denied drugging the toddler in statements to the FBI. His attorney, Neil Fink of Birmingham, declined to comment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Cohen and a Northwest Airlines spokeswoman said Cunningham no longer works for the airline, but they would not give details.

Spokeswoman Mary Stanik said Northwest hired Cunningham in 1988. He worked there until last Dec. 30.

Stanik said she could not discuss Cunningham's case.

"Our standard procedures for flight attendants do not include prescribing medication unless it is through the assistance of a physician with our in-flight emergency services," she said.

Turner told FBI special agent Terry Booth that her daughter became restless and began squirming and crying on the flight.

Cunningham appeared to become upset by the girl's crying and told Turner, "This is starting to be a problem," Booth's affidavit says.

Cunningham offered three times to give the girl apple juice before Turner accepted, the affidavit says. When Cunningham placed the cup on a tray, the girl immediately grabbed it and took several sips. Turner said she drank some as well because she was concerned the filled cup would spill.

After becoming suspicious of the juice, she poured it into a sipper cup and saved it.

The testing facility, University Laboratories, detected the Xanax, the affidavit says. Its side effects include drowsiness, fatigue and light-headedness. The Federal Drug Administration hasn't approved the drug for children under 18, the FBI said.

Booth said in his affidavit that the American Hospital Formula Service Information Book has a safety warning about giving the drug to children under 18.

In an interview with the FBI, Cunningham said he had obtained some drugs several months earlier with a doctor's prescription in Bombay, India. Agents found the other drugs in a search of his luggage after another flight from Amsterdam that Cunningham worked on Oct. 13, the affidavit says.

Booth said he advised Cunningham of the benefits of cooperating. Cunningham answered: "Let's suppose I did do it. What can you do for me?"

Cunningham is expected to appear in court next week for arraignment.

 

[morninggirl5]

I just saw a report about this on the news.


I can't even think of a word vile enough to describe this man.

 

[Gilly Bean]

I hope he gets put away for a long time.


It makes me wonder just how many other children he may have 'calmed' this way before it was caught.

 

[bknight2602]

That is sick, but after flying on a long flight I can understand the desire to shut some of those infants up, so you can rest.

 

[Gilly Bean]

Yeah, I can understand wanting to calm the child down, but does that justify drugging the child?

 

[bknight2602]

Yeah, I can understand wanting to calm the child down, but does that justify drugging the child?

Nope it doesn't.

 

[morninggirl5]

I can understand wanting a screaming, crying child to calm down. I can even understand parents who give their child some cough or allergy medicine to help them sleep during a long flight.


There is no excuse for a flight attendant to give a prescription medication to a child in this manner.

 

[P. B. Walker]

This is almost as bad as the case I heard about another woman breast feeding a child she was babysitting to get it to stop crying.

I wonder what the exact charges will be for this guy. You'd think there would be some child endangerment charges coming... and not just drug charges.

 

[Gilly Bean]

From the different articles I've seen, so far he's being charged with illegal distribution of a non-narcotic perscription drug. On top of that, this article I posted mentions that he was also up for assult, and transporting the perscription drugs from oversea's while working on the airplane.

 

[estevie]

Good God! What the fuck is the matter with people?

What a terrible thing!

We ALL want screaming babies to shut up. There are some things you can't control. That is one of them.

 

[badasschick]

This is almost as bad as the case I heard about another woman breast feeding a child she was babysitting to get it to stop crying.

I really don't see a problem with a care giver breast feeding a child to calm them down...its called a wet nurse its been done for ages.

Drugging a child is another ball of wax together.

 

[70/30]

It was Xanax, not OXY. Who doesn't need a little nervousness and tension relieved?

 

[CarolinaBabe]

My first flight to Europe with a three month old.......scream city! Everyone wanted my baby to shut up......including the flight attendant who turned into the bitch from hell in dealing with me. If she had given me anything such as this to deal with him....I would have strangled her slowly.....until her polished lips screamed. Babies cry.....flights are rough.....but this is appalling!!!

 

[Xstatic]

It wouldn't matter if it was ASPIRIN!

It was Xanax, not OXY. Who doesn't need a little nervousness and tension relieved?

Plain and simple - the attendant apparently decided to drug the child, ENTIRELY without consent or approval from ANYONE! There is NO excuse for this behaviour.

What would have happened if the child had been allergic to the drug used? Or if she had taken too much?

Fortunately Ms Turner noticed the oddness and had the presence of mind to keep a sample - otherwise it could have ended up as a similar case to 'drink spiking' (i.e. no-one knew when or where the offending substance came in, so no-one can be charged)

I only hope for the following:

1/ that the toddler has no ill effects.

2/ that Mr Cunningham doesn't get to sleaze his way out of punishment (as he seems to be trying - see the 2nd last line of the original story)

 

[Bob_Bytchin]

As vile as this act is, does anyone really think this will fly in court?

She waited 10 days before turning in the sample to be tested? I'm sure lawyers will have no problem tearing that apart.

Sure would be sad to see an asshole that does something like that to a child get away without being punished.

 

[Xstatic]

She waited 10 days before turning in the sample to be tested? I'm sure lawyers will have no problem tearing that apart.

Sure would be sad to see an asshole that does something like that to a child get away without being punished.

That probably will be a problem

 

[concrete]

I don't know if anyone posted this already, but I just read this, and was saddened.

what about the 2yr old frm Milan to London ,,punching,hidding ,etc.
KICKED the kid and his family ..off the plane

 

[P. B. Walker]

I really don't see a problem with a care giver breast feeding a child to calm them down...its called a wet nurse its been done for ages.

Drugging a child is another ball of wax together.

True. But what I was trying to say was that it is still giving a child something the mother/father has not approved of before hand. And in that other case, it was a day care center and the woman was NOT a wet nurse, she was just another woman that worked there and happen to be producing. I mean, hell, what if she would have had AIDS?

In the end, I think it's fair to say, some people just don't fucking think.

 

[ClaudiusMaximus]

He also was charged with importing more than 100 tablets of a non-narcotic controlled substance -- including Valium and Xanax -- into the United States on a different flight in October.

Ok, I'm getting worried about my upcoming trip to the US, going for two months, I take 7 prescribed pills per day, total over 400 tablets - I better check with the embassy first cos I don't want to get fucked over and thrown in jail for my prescription meds (venlafaxine (Effexor) and risperidone (Risperdal) in case anyone cares).

 

[peachykeen]

Ok, I'm getting worried about my upcoming trip to the US, going for two months, I take 7 prescribed pills per day, total over 400 tablets - I better check with the embassy first cos I don't want to get fucked over and thrown in jail for my prescription meds (venlafaxine (Effexor) and risperidone (Risperdal) in case anyone cares).

If you have them in their prescription bottles, you will have no problem, don't sweat it.


Why won't any of the flight attendants give me sedatives when I fly?