Officers fired in United dragging

Passenger injured over refusal to give up his seat on plane

CHICAGO — The Chicago Department of Aviation has fired two security officers involved in an incident in which a passenger was dragged off a United Airlines flight after refusing to give up his seat, the city’s Office of Inspector General said in a report released Tuesday.

One of the fired officers, a sergeant, also was part of an attempt to cover up some details of the incident that happened in April at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, according to the report.

Four officers were involved in the confrontation with passenger David Dao, who was aboard a flight to Louisville, Ky. The Aviation Department suspended the two other officers — one for five days and the other for two. The officer who received the five-day suspension resigned.

The Office of Inspector General said in the report that as a result of the office’s findings and recommendations, the Aviation Department fired an officer who “improperly escalated the incident” and a sergeant involved in removing facts from a report. The inspector general report does not identify the officers.

The report says the investigation by the Office of Inspector General found three security officers and a sergeant used excessive force and “made misleading statements and deliberately removed material facts from their reports” on the April 9 incident.

“The use of excessive force caused the passenger to hit his face on an armrest, resulting in a concussion, a broken nose, and the loss of two teeth,” the report said.

Dao, a physician who was 69 at the time of the incident, reached an undisclosed settlement with United shortly after the incident.