TWO AVIATION COPS WHO DRAGGED PASSENGER OFF UNITED FLIGHT FIRED
Two aviation security officers have been fired — and a suspended officer has resigned — for their roles in the April 9 passenger dragging fiasco aboard United Airlines Flight 3411.
The final resolution of disciplinary action recommended by Inspector General Joe Ferguson is included in Ferguson’s quarterly report, released Tuesday.
As always, the names of the fired employees were withheld. They were identified only as an aviation security officer and a sergeant.
Five- day suspensions were handed to two other aviation security officers who boarded the plane and dragged a bloodied and flailing Dr. David Dao down the aisle for refusing to give up his seat for a United crew member who needed to get to Louisville.
One of the suspensions was reduced to two days after a grievance was filed. The other suspended officer filed a grievance, then withdrew it and resigned.
Instead of identifying the four officers, Ferguson described the now widely known circumstances that gave Chicago and United a black eye around the world.
The first officer was accused of violating the Department of Aviation’s use of force policy when he “escalated a non- threatening situation into a physically violent one by forcefully removing a passenger from the aircraft.”
“The ASO’s use of excessive force caused the passenger to hit his face on an armrest, resulting in the passenger sustaining a concussion, a broken nose and the loss of teeth,” Ferguson wrote.
The second officer was accused of making “misleading statements in two reports.” The third officer was accused of making “material omissions in a report regarding the first” officer’s forceful removal of Dao.
“The investigation further established that the sergeant deliberately removed material facts from the third” officer’s ‘ To/ From Report’ and approved reports without all essential information,” the inspector general said.
Ferguson said his investigation also identified what has been clear for years. There is “significant confusion” about the role that unarmed aviation security officers play in the layers of security that protect O’Hare and Midway airports.
The confusion “highlighted CDA’s fundamental failure to implement practical policies and procedures,” Ferguson wrote.
Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans announced earlier this year that Chicago’s $ 19 million- a- year force of 292 unarmed aviation police officers would have their roles minimized, their training overhauled and the word “police” stripped from their badges, uniforms and vehicles.
Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents the 292 officers, has accused the commissioner of “scapegoating” them to divert attention from what the union called “her own failed policies and mismanagement.”
The chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus wants aviation security officers to continue to undergo four months of training at the police academy and retain their titles as police officers.
In his quarterly report, Ferguson noted that a broader review of aviation security is underway.
He urged Evans to “fully consider the serious issues identified” in his quarterly report during that review to make certain aviation security officers and their bosses “have a clear and consistent understanding of their roles and responsibilities — individually and in relation to CPD and other airport personnel.”
Ferguson noted that both fired officers have “grieved their discharge” with arbitration dates not yet scheduled.