Kentucky physician dragged off United jet has checkered past

CHICAGO — The man dragged from a full United Express flight by airport police in Chicago is a Kentucky physician who was convicted more than a decade ago of felony charges involving his prescribing of drugs and spent years trying to regain his medical license.

But while the passenger’s unflattering history quickly became the focus of attention, there’s no indication his past influenced how he was treated or that the airline or police were aware of his background. And it’s unlikely officials would have known anything about him other than basic information such as his name and address, if that.

A person with knowledge of the Sunday evening flight who was not authorized to publicly release the information told The Associated Press the passenger was David Dao, 69, of Elizabethtown, Ky. Dao did not return messages from the AP.

Screaming can be heard on the videos, but nowhere is Dao seen attacking the officers. In fact, he appears relatively passive both when he was dragged down the aisle of the jet and when he is seen standing in the aisle later saying quietly, “I want to go home, I want to go home.”

When cellphone videos taken by other passengers first emerged, they generated widespread sympathy for Dao and sharp criticism of the airline.

The chief executive of the airline’s parent company initially released a statement saying United wanted to talk to the man. But Oscar Munoz later began defending his employees, describing the passenger as “disruptive and belligerent.”

That comment suggested tDao’s actions could be examined closely by United and the Chicago Aviation Department, though it remains unclear what role Dao’s past might play in those investigations.

On Tuesday, Munoz issued another statement describing the removal as “truly horrific” and offering his “deepest apologies.”

“No one should ever be mistreated this way,” he said. Munoz pledged to review the company’s policies for seeking volunteers to give up their seats, for handling oversold situations and for partnering with airport authorities and local law enforcement.

The company planned to share results of the review by April 30.

According to records from the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, Dao went to medical school at the University of Medicine of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, graduating in 1974. He was licensed in Kentucky with a specialty in pulmonary disease.

His legal troubles started in 2003, when his medical license was suspended after an undercover sting operation at a Louisville motel for allegedly writing fraudulent prescriptions.

According to the documents, the licensing board had learned Dao had become sexually interested in a patient and hired the patient as his office manager. That man later said he quit his job because Dao “pursued him aggressively” and arranged to provide him with prescription drugs in exchange for sex.

Dao ultimately was convicted in late 2004 of several counts of obtaining drugs by fraud or deceit and was placed on five years of supervised probation and surrendered his medical license.

His longtime effort to get his license back finally succeeded in 2015, when the licensing board allowed him to practice medicine again.

Airport officials have said little about Sunday’s events and nothing about Dao’s behavior before he was pulled from the jet bound for Louisville, Ky. Likewise, the Aviation Department has said only that one of its employees who removed Dao did not follow proper procedures and has been placed on leave.

No passengers on the plane have mentioned that Dao did anything but refuse to leave the plane when he was ordered to do so.