Police reports say flier fought
Aviation officers who pulled the passenger off a United flight say he was ‘aggressive.’
The Chicago aviation officers who forcibly removed a passenger from a United Airlines flight filed reports saying the traveler was “aggressive” when responding to requests to give up his seat and flailed his arms while fighting with officers.
The reports, released Monday in response to Freedom of Information Act requests by the Los Angeles Times and others, contradict videos of the incident caught by fellow passengers on their cellphones and viewed by millions of people worldwide. Those videos show the passenger, Kentucky physician David Dao, refusing to give up his spot on a full flight, then being yanked from the seat by the officers, hitting his head against another seat and being dragged down the airplane’s aisle.
The ensuing public outrage prompted United to issue several apologies and launch a review of its procedures when dealing with sold-out flights. Chief Executive Oscar Munoz has promised that airline employees won’t call on law enforcement to remove passengers in the future if the incidents don’t involve safety or security.
The incident reports also reveal for the first time the names of the four officers involved in the incident, which left Dao, 69, with a concussion and other injuries. All four of those officers have been placed on administrative leave by the Chicago Department of Aviation, city records say.
The officers were identified as James Long, Mauricio Rodriguez Jr., Steven Smith and Sgt. John Moore. Two of the officers had previously been disciplined for workplace violations, according to city records.
Dao’s attorney, personal injury lawyer Thomas Demetrio, called the incident reports “utter nonsense. Consider the source.”
The April 9 flight from Chicago to Louisville, Ky., was full, and United tried to clear four seats to make room for airline employees who needed to work a shift the next day in Louisville. When the airline couldn’t get enough passengers to voluntarily give up their seats, the carrier picked four passengers to remove, including Dao.
In the incident reports, two of the officers blame Dao for his injuries, saying the passenger’s flailing motions made the officers lose their grip on him, causing him to fall face first into the armrest of a nearby seat.
After he was removed from the plane, the reports say, Dao was lying on the floor on the jet bridge talking to the officers when he bolted past them to get back into the plane. He agreed to leave the plane voluntarily to get medical attention, the reports say.
According to the police reports, Long, Rodriguez and Smith all urged Dao to leave his seat but he refused. Long tried to pull Dao out of his seat, with the help of Rodriguez and Smith, the reports said.