Aviation official gives his version of United passenger’s removal

CHICAGO — A physician who was dragged off a United Airlines flight in Chicago this month was verbally and physically abusive and flailing his arms before he lost his balance and struck his mouth on an armrest, according to the aviation officer who pulled the man out of his seat.

The Chicago Department of Aviation on Monday released the officer’s report of the incident in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Associated Press. The report reveals for the first time the officer’s version of what happened aboard the plane at O’Hare International Airport on April 9.

The incident — which was videotaped by other passengers and widely shared online — became an international embarrassment for both the airline and the city’s Aviation Department.

The report also includes the name of the officer, James Long, whom authorities initially declined to identify.

In the report, Long said he boarded the United Express flight after being called in response to a disturbance involving two people regarding a refusal to leave the aircraft. United has said four passengers had been ordered off the airplane to make room for four employees to fly to Louisville, Ky.

Long said he approached Dr. David Dao to ask the 69-year-old physician to get off the plane. Long said Dao refused and “folded his arms tightly.” Long said he reached out to “hold” Dao and was able to pull him away from his window seat on the aircraft and move toward the aisle.

“But suddenly the subject started flailing and fighting,” Long wrote.

Dao then knocked Long’s hand off his arm, causing the struggling Dao to fall and strike his mouth on an armrest on the other side of the aisle, according to the report. Long said he then dragged Dao because Dao refused to stand up.

Long said he wrote the report and gave his version of events only because he faced losing his job.

The video taken by a passenger shows lots of screaming coming from behind the seats, then Dao being dragged by his arms down the aisle of the plane as the other passengers react with horror.

In a separate report released Monday, labeled a “Hospitalization Case Report,” the Chicago Police Department said Dao was observed striking his face against an armrest as aviation officers “attempted to escort” him from the flight.

Neither report details Dao’s injuries, but at a news conference days after the incident, Dao’s attorney said the doctor suffered a broken nose and a concussion, and lost two teeth.

Long said he was able to remove Dao from the airplane. Long said that once off the plane and in the walkway back to the gate, Dao said he was a diabetic, but then got up off the floor and ran back onto the aircraft. Long alleges Dao, while running back to the plane, said they’d have to kill him.

Long and two other aviation officers were subsequently placed on leave by the aviation department.

Dao’s attorney, Thomas Demetrio, told NBC’s “Today” show on Monday that he intended to file a lawsuit.

Demetrio is also representing a woman seen sobbing in a viral video after an American Airlines flight attendant took away her stroller.

The Chicago lawyer says the American flight attendant was “out of control” and nearly hit one of the woman’s two young children with the stroller.

An American Airlines spokesman said Monday that the company has been in contact with the woman, and refunded her tickets and upgraded her to first class for the rest of her trip to Argentina.

The airline spokesman said American has grounded the flight attendant.