That is appalling. I would have expected a more serious charge. If a man walked up to an Anglo woman and removed a piece of clothing it would probably be considered sexual assault. (Or so I would hope.)
Gill Parker Payne
Again, this is why I didn’t give my son a middle name. 
@docd - I don’t know about sexual assault, but it seems pretty clearly an assault.
ETA: and certainly a hate crime.
Lawyers?
What an asshole!
On one point, and only one point, parker was correct. “This is America”, you know, where we have religious freedom as stated in our Constitution… freedom to worship. Asshat with minimal understanding of the Constitution or American values
This is a federal charge. There is no general federal statute against assault, only for assaulting federal employees while engaged in or on account of their official duties. Assault is generally prosecuted by state authorities. This is probably about the only thing the feds could charge him with. For a state to prosecute, there would have to be a determination of which particular state has jurisdiction.
Thanks!
What an sshle
The Feds alone have jurisdiction for crimes committed on domestic flights. This even includes:
a) a flight between two cities in the same state
b) Trump’s private helicopter flying from Trump Tower to Trump Evil Lair (both private property)
c) an airplane sitting on the taxiway waiting to take off
As soon as the doors are closed after passengers have boarded (Cessna 152 or Airbus A380, doesn’t matter), boom federal jurisdiction. Once the doors are open for passenger exit, boom state jurisdiction. 49 U.S. Code § 465
Proud racists, xenophobes, and Islamophobes are feeling a bit emboldened in the Age of Trump.
I bet old Three Last Names was scared by a nun in school.
Or at least by Sally Field in “The Flying Nun” 
Trump was seen clapping and cheering and promised to cover his legal bills.
Trump is Drumpf. This example of street level bigotry and hatred is how Trump is the new leader of the Republican Party. For too long, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, mitt Romney, George bush, Cheney, and the rest have quietly supported racism towards Obama and now their once grand party is out of control and in the gutter.
Yes, you’re right. 49 USC 46506 even makes assault a crime via 18 USC 113. But there is no statutory definition of simple assault so it remains a question what the elements of that particular offense are.
One can only assume the North Carolinian monkey would have thrown his feces over
the garb worn by these fine ladies too…unless he’s just a garden variety Trump-fueled Islamophobic P.O.S. bigot, which he most likely is. I hope federal charges are filed.
Why is NC so full of racists? Perhaps they are encouraged by the governor and the legislature.
First dehumanize, then stand back and watch the rubes rise up in certainty that this time they are finally right about something.
Funny, but when some twit on a Southwest flight gets bent out of shape about a kid talking to his uncle on a cell phone in Arabic, the kid gets thrown off the plane. Here a jerk assaults a Moslem woman and they’re perfectly ok with that.
In a better world the plane would have made an unscheduled landing because of “an unruly passenger” and this jerk would have been taken off and jailed.
The larger story is posted here in the Albuquerque Journal:
… obviously the Illuminati has been distilling the crap in the Flint water and spraying it into the North Carolina air…
… yep, them penguins look mighty damn suspicious…!!!..
