UPDATED-April 12, 2017
Dr. David Dao, 69, has been named as the passenger who was dragged from a United Airlines flight after refusing to give up his seat, according to The Courier-Journal.
The Louisville news outlet reports that Dao is a doctor practicing in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
Dao is undergoing treatment in a Chicago hospital for his injuries.
In a statement from his family “The family of Dr. Dao wants the world to know that they are very appreciative of the outpouring of prayers, concern and support they have received. Currently, they are focused only on Dr. Dao’s medical care and treatment,” said Golan.
"Until Dr. Dao is released from the hospital, the family is asking for privacy and will not be making any statements to the media,"
David Dao, 69 yrs. old, Dragged Off Overbooked Flight After Refusing to Give up Seat
Whatever happened to simple common sense?
You know when reading something that cannot possibly be true and it turns out to actually have happened, that stupidity has once again reached a new low.
All I can say is, what the fuck are the employees and executives of United Airlines doing?
Obviously they are unable to think, unable to show a nano synapse of common sense, unable to comprehend that a paying customer of theirs is a human being, unable to understand what the words taking accountability for your actions means, unable to act in any way remotely connected to being worthy of anyone ever flying on their airline.
Have their employees ever been trained in any manner as to interacting in a respectful manner with other human beings?
Clearly they have not or simply put, they truly don't care about their passengers and will literally drag them off an airplane for no reason at all.
The Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement Monday afternoon that the incident was "not in accordance with" standard operating procedure and the officer's actions were "not condoned" by the department. The officer involved was placed on administrative leave effective Monday pending review of the situation, the department said.
So the Chicago Department of Aviation Police said that the incident was "not in accordance with" standard operating procedure and the officer's actions were "not condoned" by the department.
Where were these officer's trained? They work for and supposedly were trained by you. Where is your accountability of taking responsibility of your cowardly officer's?
Videos don't lie and if you really meant what you say in your words, these storm trooper morons should be fired and also charged with criminal assault, abuse of power, and probably 10 other codes they violated.
How dumb can your officer's be to blindly, viciously attack an innocent civilian because the United Airlines crew complained to you about something that was NOT illegal on the part of the passenger. He paid for his ticket, it was his seat, he had every right to stay on that airplane.
The Chicago Police Department said in a statement earlier Monday that around 6 p.m. on Sunday, a 69-year-old passenger "became irate" after he was asked to leave the plane.
"The passenger in question began yelling to voice his displeasure at which point Aviation Police were summoned," police said in the statement.
Police claimed the officers were attempting to carry the man off the flight "when he fell."
"His head subsequently struck an armrest causing injuries to his face," police said, adding that the man was taken to a hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries. An investigation into the incident was still ongoing.
Multiple attempts to reach the Department of Aviation for comment were not immediately returned.
Tyler Bridges, who posted video of the incident on Twitter, told NBC News he and his wife were on the United plane at O'Hare International Airport from Chicago to Louisville on Sunday when a flight attendant said the flight was overbooked and four people would have to leave to make room for airline employees.
Bridges said the flight attendant offered an $800 voucher for anyone who would volunteer to get off the flight and leave the following day at 3 p.m.
"Nobody moved, nobody got up," he said.
When no one volunteered, Bridges said, a gate agent told them the airline had used an algorithm to randomly select four people to get off the plane.
First, a young couple was asked to leave and, "they're not happy, but they get off. No problem," Bridges said.
Then the unidentified man in the video was asked to leave, Bridges said.
"He says he's a doctor and has to be in Louisville in the morning to see patients," he said. "He says he can't be delayed a day."
The agent then said if the man did not leave, she was going to call security, according to Bridges.
The man refused, prompting a verbal exchange with law enforcement officers, Bridges said.
One of them "walks down the aisle and starts yelling at the man. He grabs him, throws him out of his seat and they drag him off," Bridges said.
"Everyone is disturbed," Bridges said. "It was kind of a dramatic scene."
After the man was dragged away, the four United employees boarded the flight, he said.
But a few minutes later, the man who was removed from the flight ran back on the plane, saying he needed to get back home.
"Somehow he got back on," Bridges said. "He runs back on — dazed, bloodied, kind of in a mess — yelling 'I have to get home, I have to get home.'"
The man was removed on a stretcher, "resisting the whole time," Bridges said.
It was unclear how the man returned to the plane and what happened after he was removed.
United confirmed in a statement late Sunday that a passenger was removed from the overbooked flight.
"Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate," the company said in a statement.
Don't take responsibility for your actions and that of the employees.
Go ahead, you cowards, use "victim blaming", claim it all happened because of this innocent victim who did nothing to cause your cruel, insane, violent behavior to him.
Don't take responsibility for your actions and that of the employees.
Go ahead, you cowards, use "victim blaming", claim it all happened because of this innocent victim who did nothing to cause your cruel, insane, violent behavior to him.
The company apologized for the overbooking situation and referred additional comment to authorities.
Bridges said passengers felt the man had been wronged.
"Airlines overbook flights all the time — that's not uncommon," Bridges said. "But everyone felt that they had wronged the man."
The flight was delayed three hours as a result of the incident, he added.
The incident comes just two weeks after United faced a public relations storm after two girls who were traveling as family or friends of airline employees were denied entry on a flight for wearing leggings.
Eventually when he found time,the CEO of United Airlines said to customers: "This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United," CEO Oscar Munoz said in a statement. "I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened.We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation," he added in the statement.
How nice of him to "apologize" with the fancy new word of "re-accomodate", what a nice benign word for forcibly dragging, physically removing customers off your airplanes. Such big, meaningless, hollow, wimpy words and not a shred of a real admission that there is nothing for you to review or investigate. Your airline just sucks, say it, and say it loud.
You also suck Oscar Munoz and are a shameful leader of a stupid bunch of clowns.
In a leaked internal e-mail memo written to employees and obtained by CNBC (after his public statement from above) the CEO Munoz said he “deeply regretted the situation arose,” but said he “emphatically stand[s] behind all” of the employees of the company, and added that he “want[ed] to commend” airline workers for “continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.”
WRONG Mr. Munoz. You have no clue what you are doing and saying, once again revealing how incompetent you are and the dysfunctional manner in which your Company is operated
You also suck Oscar Munoz and are a shameful leader of a stupid bunch of clowns.
In a leaked internal e-mail memo written to employees and obtained by CNBC (after his public statement from above) the CEO Munoz said he “deeply regretted the situation arose,” but said he “emphatically stand[s] behind all” of the employees of the company, and added that he “want[ed] to commend” airline workers for “continuing to go above and beyond to ensure we fly right.”
WRONG Mr. Munoz. You have no clue what you are doing and saying, once again revealing how incompetent you are and the dysfunctional manner in which your Company is operated
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE mr.CEO and if you had any pride, you would immediately resign before your Board of Directors fires you because your airline is a reflection of you and it's shitty employees.
Dr. Dao has hired a high-profile Chicago attorney.
Dr. Dao has hired a high-profile Chicago attorney.
Tom Demetrio of the Corboy & Demetrio law firm that is routinely in the mix on high-profile personal injury and aviation cases, is part of Dr. David Dao's new legal team.
Dao also is represented by Stephen L. Golan of Golan Christie Taglia, who issued a brief statement on Dao's behalf Tuesday — not long after United's CEO issued an apology for the infamous incident seen around the world.
Demetrio is a partner at Corboy & Demetrio and is a former president of the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.
He's won multimillion dollar settlements in wrongful death cases. According to his bio, Demetrio "has negotiated well over $1 billion in settlements and acquired the largest personal injury verdict ever upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court. He has never lost an appeal."
I hope United Airlines and the Chicago Aviation Police are sued for millions of dollars by the Dr. Dao, that they lose the cases, and whatever tiny credibility they had left.
