Alleged Scuffle Involving Rev. Schuller Investigated

By GREG HERNANDEZ and LEE ROMNEY

July 2, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

GARDEN GROVE — Federal agents are investigating allegations by a United Airlines flight attendant that the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, founder of the Crystal Cathedral, injured him Saturday during an altercation en route to New York City.

Schuller, 70, was traveling from Los Angeles to speak at a tribute to Betty Shabazz, widow of the late Malcolm X, when the incident occurred. FBI agents boarded the plane when it landed and questioned Schuller and other witnesses in first class for five hours, Schuller’s attorney said at a news conference Tuesday at the Crystal Cathedral.

Schuller was not arrested, and no criminal charges or civil lawsuits have been filed in connection with the incident. The name of the flight attendant was not released.

Schuller, who preaches to a worldwide television audience of 20 million each week, chose to use television to give his version of what happened on the airplane. His attorney, Terry Giles, linked to the news conference by telephone from Chicago, said it began when Schuller asked to hang up the robe he planned to wear at the service. The 35-year-old attendant, Giles said, was adamant that he could not.

Speaking to the attendant’s supervisor, Schuller then proposed wearing the robe for a moment, which would make it a “coat” technically, and thus eligible for hanging in the storage compartment, Giles said, adding that the supervisor agreed.

“As best we can tell, it made the flight attendant irate,” Giles said.

Throughout the flight, the attorney said, Schuller noticed that the attendant had “an attitude” and was still upset over the robe incident.

“It seemed clear that as the flight proceeded, the flight attendant escalated it into a contest,” Giles said.

After dinner, fruit and cheese were being served, and Schuller asked the attendant if he could have only the fruit because of his low-fat diet. The man refused, Giles said, so Schuller got out of his seat and asked a female flight attendant if he could have some grapes.

The attorney said Schuller noticed that the male attendant had come up behind him and he was concerned because the man seemed angry.

Giles said his client then attempted to counsel the man.

“Dr. Schuller is the first to admit that he is a touchy-feely person,” Giles said. “He doesn’t remember exactly what happened . . . but he addressed this young man the way he has addressed thousands of others.”

Giles said the attendant “jumped back and said, ‘If you touch me again, I’ll call the police.’ ”

Tony Molinaro, a spokesman for United Airlines in Chicago, said a scuffle occurred between Schuller and a flight attendant.

“Rev. Schuller was on the flight. There was an altercation with one of United’s male flight attendants,” Molinaro said. “We know that Rev. Schuller made physical contact with that flight attendant, and that flight attendant was injured.”

Molinaro said the flight attendant “did see one of our company doctors, and he is on sick leave right now, and he is injured.”

Molinaro declined to discuss the circumstances of the scuffle or the nature of the employee’s injuries, but said the FBI and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.

“We really don’t want to get into details until we hear the report from the FBI and FAA about what exactly happened,” he said.

He said it is not uncommon to call in the FBI if an altercation occurs in the air because airspace falls within federal jurisdiction.

“If there’s any injury they say was caused by a passenger, we make sure the authorities are called in to investigate,” he said.

Joseph Valiquette, the FBI spokesman in New York City, said details of the incident “are still being sorted out.”

The plane’s captain called to request that FBI agents meet the plane, Valiquette said.

“The FBI began on Saturday night a preliminary review of an incident that was alleged to have occurred on that United Airlines flight,” he said. “There have been no charges filed against anyone. No one has been arrested.’

Executive Assistant U.S. Atty. William Muller said no case has been referred to his office yet.

“There are no pending charges,” he said. “At this point, there is not even an investigation at the U.S. attorney’s office.”

According to Giles, the flight attendant says he is in “great physical pain” and is on medical leave, suffering from whiplash and muscle spasms.

“The allegations are anywhere from Dr. Schuller pushed him to Dr. Schuller put him in a headlock,” Giles said. “It is a totally unbelievable version that this male flight attendant tells.”

Schuller adamantly denied any misbehavior aboard the flight.

“I am innocent,” he said. “I have not broken a single one of the Ten Commandments, and I have not broken any of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

“I don’t know where this is going, but I know one thing for sure,” Schuller said. “God will have the last word, and it will be good.”