A former Delta Air Lines flight attendant accused of drugging and raping a female co-worker in his Rome hotel room insisted yesterday he was working out at a gym at the time of the alleged attack.
“I’m not guilty. I could never do something like that,” Michael Young told jurors during a civil trial at Brooklyn federal court.
“I do not even recognize this woman,” the soft-spoken 39-year-old said.
Young took the stand a day after Penny Ferris, 51, tearfully alleged he repeatedly sexually assaulted her on March 16, 1998, after he spiked her wine with a date-rape drug and caused her to black out.
Defense lawyer Robert Conway called her accusations “a dream fantasy” during his opening remarks.
Earlier yesterday, under cross-examination by Conway, Ferris, who testified she faded in and out of consciousness, appeared angry when she was questioned about whether or not she resisted the alleged attack.
“I would have been another Lorena Bobbitt if I could,” she snapped.
Young said he spent four hours at a Rome gym the afternoon Ferris claims he drugged and raped her in his hotel room during a layover after a flight from New York.
Young said the two met for the first time during that flight – but he couldn’t even remember working with her.
He said that after leaving the gym he returned to the hotel where the Delta crew was staying and “fell asleep in my clothes on the bed watching TV.”
He said he woke up around 8:30 p.m. and spent the rest of the evening with a female flight attendant with whom he was having a sexual relationship.
The jurors, six men and six women, must decide if the rape did indeed take place. If they believe Ferris, Young would be liable for damages and a second trial would decide if Delta should be held liable as well.
Delta denies Ferris’ allegation that the airline knew Young had a history of sexually harassing fellow attendants and did nothing to stop him. Delta said that immediately after Ferris reported her claims, Young was taken off duty and suspended. He later resigned.