Police have claimed that Dr David Dao, better known as the man who was dragged literally kicking and screaming off a United Airlines flight, was to blame for the incident that left him bloodied and bruised.
Officers claim that after interviewing several of his fellow passengers they believe that Dr Dao was ‘behaving violently’, flailing his arms and striking an officer as he attempted to remove Dao from the plane, ABC News reports.
Dr Dao’s lawyer, Thomas Demetrio, however has dismissed these claims as ‘utter nonsense’ and asked people to consider the source before adding that his client may need surgery after suffering a broken nose, a concussion and losing two teeth.
According to a report the officer who attempted to remove Mr Dao from the plane, Officer Long, ‘attempted to assist the subject off his seat with two hands, but the subject started swinging his arms up and down fast and violently’.
It continues:
The subject then started flailing his arms and started to fight with Officer Long. Due to this incident, the subject was able knock Officer Long’s right hand off the subject’s arm.
Consequentially, the subject fell and hit his mouth on the armrest across from him.
It’s worth remembering that Dr Dao was being removed from the plane against his will and was under no obligation to give up his seat as he’d bought a ticket and had been seated on the plane.
And not to sound cynical but I can’t help but think that United are the ones who escalated the situation by sending an officer to manhandle a man off the plane for the crime of sitting down.
Anyway editorialising aside, back to United’s excuses for beating a customer… Oh wait no they don’t have one.
United have since made several public apologies for their treatment of Dr Dao and the ariline’s CEO Oscar Munoz has backtracked on comments that Dao was belligerent, offering an apology to the doctor.
He said:
No one should ever be mistreated this way. The aviation department has also profusely apologized and vowed an investigation
Meanwhile the Aviation Department has instructed its employees to review the organisation’s ‘use of force’ policy following the incident , which states that officers should use force only when ‘reasonably necessary to defend a human life, effect an arrest or control a person’.
So not to remove a man who was enjoying the service he’d paid for…
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.