According to The Oregonian, the family released a statement that Robert Vietze was actually peeing on the floor next to their daughter's seat ? not on their daughter.
"While family members have cooperated with authorities in the investigation, they neither welcome nor encourage further publicity," The Oregonian reports. "The family's main concern is the welfare of their daughter."
After being taken into custody Wednesday, Vietze was issued a federal summons for misdemeanor indecent exposure. If convicted, he could face a $1,000 fine and up to a year in prison.
Before flying, Vietze admittedly consumed five to six beers and two rum and cokes before boarding his flight. The alcohol apparently "hit him" while in the air, and he walked to seat 15A (where the girl was sitting) and relieved himself. When confronted by the girl's father, Vietze said "he had an accident," reports the paper.
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UPDATE, 8/12: 18-year old Robert Vietze was a member of the U.S. Ski Team. He has seen been kicked off the team. He is (was) considered one of the most elite skiers in the nation.
The New York Post reports that Vietze was returning from a training camp at Oregon's Mount Hood when the incident occurred. Vietze was in the running for the 2014 Olympics, but is name was removed from the team's development roster on Thursday.
"We have no comment, nothing to say," Vietze's mother told reporters outside their Vermont home.
The kicker? Turns out the girl was with her father, a Stage 4 cancer patient, and sister on the way to visit her grandmother in Long Island for the first time since her father's diagnosis.
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PREVIOUSLY, 8/11: A drunk male passenger was caught peeing on a sleeping 11-year old girl on a JFK-bound JetBlue flight on Wednesday.
18-year old Robert Vietze of South Warren, Vermont was on a red eye flight from Portland, Oregon when he started peeing on a sleeping 11-year old girl who was traveling with her sister and father, the New York Post reports.
Vietze was drunk, having consumed eight drinks, and stumbled five rows behind him (presumably towards the bathroom?!) when he started peeing on the girl. The girl's family was using the bathroom at the time.
"I was drunk, and I did not realize I was pissing on her leg," the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Vietze told law enforcement.
The unidentified girl's father caught Vietze peeing on his daughter and started screaming, "F--- that kid! I don't want him near my family!" a fellow passenger told the Post.
Flight attendants separated the father and Vietze, whom they moved to the back of the plane. They also tried to clean up the pee with soap from the bathrooms.
Yet the already exciting flight was far from over. An hour before the plane landed, another passenger started complaining of chest pains and vomited. The pilot addressed the plane, asking "Is anybody on this flight a nurse or doctor? We have a medical emergency." Yet no one stepped forward so flight attendants worked to keep him calm.
A witness told the Post that the pilots "kept coming out of the cockpit to talk to the flight crew about what was going on."
Six Port Authority cops greeted the plane when it landed at 6:30am. Two helped the sick passenger while four carted Vietze into custody.
Vietze has been issued a federal summons for indecent exposure.
This is not, surprisingly, the first time a passenger has peed on another under the influence of alcohol. Back in June, a drunk New Zealand man on a Jetstar flight from Auckland to Singapore peed on the plane's carpet, a man's leg and a woman's scarf after drinking whiskey out of Burger King cups with friends. The man, Michael Aitkin, eventually came forward and apologized profusely to his fellow passengers for his actions.
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