Fired aviation cop sues over jet drag
A fired aviation security officer who dragged a passenger off a plane last year at O’Hare Airport has sued the City of Chicago and United Airlines claiming he wasn’t properly trained to handle the incident.
On April 9, 2017, James Long and several other Chicago Department of Aviation police officers boarded United Airlines Flight 3411 and dragged Dr. David Dao down the aisle after he refused to give up his seat to a United crew member traveling to Louisville. Dao reached a settlement with United last year.
Long was suspended after the incident and fired onAug. 8, 2017, according to the suit filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court.
Another officer was fired, and a third resigned. The lawsuit claims the CD A and Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans acted negligently by not properly trainingLong “howto respond to an escalating situation” with a passenger.
Evans sent a series of defamatory tweets in the days after the incident, the suit alleges. She wrongly tweeted on April 11 that Long was no longer a law enforcement officer and claimed in another tweet that the officers’ actions “were completely inappropriate.”
The suit holds that Evans’ statements contained “deliberate and intentionally misleading omissions with the direct intention to harm” Long.
In addition, United acted negligently by not foreseeing the consequences of calling the officers to remove Dao, the suit alleges. United also allegedly defamed the former officer by implying he “sexually harassed or criminally stalked” Evans.
Long has been unemployed since his firing, according to the suit. He is seeking more than $ 150,000 from the CDA and United, according to the suit.
“We have not been served with this suit and are unable to comment,” according to a statement from United spokeswoman Erin Benson Scharra. The Aviation Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.