Lawyer For David Dao, Dragged United Passenger, Says 'Airlines Have Bullied Us'
Posted in: Today's ChiliA lawyer for Dr. David Dao, the United Airlines passenger who was violently removed from his seat Sunday on a flight from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky, said Thursday that a lawsuit from Dao was “likely.”
“Here’s the law, real simple: If you’re going to eject a passenger, under no circumstances can it be done with unreasonable force or violence,” Thomas Demetrio said during a press conference. “That’s the law.”
Agents initially said they had “no choice” but to remove Dao, 69, to make room for United employees on the flight. The company accused him of being “belligerent and disruptive,” but video shows Dao remaining calm in the moments leading up to the physical altercation.
“I’m a physician and I have to work tomorrow at 8 o’clock,” Dao can be seen politely telling Chicago airport security officers in the footage.
However, authorities dragged a bloodied Dao off the plane as other passengers looked on in horror.
Dao lost two front teeth and sustained a concussion and a broken nose. He will need to have reconstructive surgery, his lawyer said.
United CEO Oscar Munoz initially made the situation worse with a tone-deaf apology for “having to re-accommodate” customers. He followed that up with a more emphatic apology for “the truly horrific event,” promising that “we will do better.”
“He was a paying passenger sitting in a seat in our aircraft, and no one should be treated that way, period,” Munoz said Wednesday of Dao.
Demetrio called the apology “staged.”
After a fierce public outcry against United, even President Donald Trump took the opportunity to call the situation “horrible.”
Demetrio said Thursday that airlines ― United in particular ― have “bullied us” and “treated us less than we deserve.”
“Are we gonna continue being treated like cattle, bullied?” Demetrio asked. “We all have enough angst for flying as it is.”
Dao’s daughter Crystal also spoke at the press conference, thanking everyone for their support of her father.
“What happened to my dad should have never happened to any human being, regardless of circumstance,” she said. “We were horrified and shocked and sickened to learn what had happened to him and to see what had happened to him. We hope that in the future nothing like this happens again.”
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