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A Chicago airport security officer who helped drag a United Airlines passenger off a plane by his arms, bloodying his lip and causing him to hit his head on metal, as horrified passengers protested and recorded the episode on their smartphones Sunday night at O'Hare International Airport, was placed on leave Monday.
The episode aboard United Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville has become a national embarrassment for the Chicago Department of Aviation and United Airlines.
Millions of people have now seen videos of the screaming man as he was forcibly pulled from his seat, put to the ground and dragged down the aisle. The man, who said he was a doctor, was among four passengers randomly selected on the full flight to give up their seats for United Airlines employees who needed to be in Louisville by Monday, according to witnesses.
As the passenger was pulled down the aisle, one passenger exclaimed, "Can't United rent a car for the (employees) to get to Louisville?" Another passenger pointed out "you busted his lip" after Chicago airport police grabbed him. Several videos were posted to social media. In one, blood is forming on the man's lip and his eyeglasses are askew.
The petrified, disoriented man, who managed to get back on the plane before being taken to the hospital, ran down the aisle shouting "I have to go home." As he stood at the back of the plane, he said "just kill me ... just kill me." Police said the man was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge for treatment to his injuries.
On Monday morning, United CEO Oscar Munoz issued a statement calling the incident "an upsetting event."
"I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers," Munoz said. "Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened. We are also reaching out to this passenger to talk directly to him and further address and resolve this situation."
By Monday afternoon, the Department of Aviation issued its own statement about its officers' actions.
"The incident ... was not in accordance with our standard operating procedure and the actions of the aviation security officer are obviously not condoned by our Department. The officer has been placed on leave effective today and pending a thorough review of the situation."
Jayse D. Anspach, of Louisville, who was seated just a few feet from the man, posted this video to Twitter.
Audra D. Bridges, a Louisville resident, posted a video to her Facebook page Sunday night. Bridges told the Louisville Courier-Journal the man said he did not want to give up his seat for a Monday flight because he is a doctor and needed to be in Louisville in the morning to see patients. Bridges said three airport security police surrounded the man, who screamed when they grabbed him and wrenched him out of the seat.
"We are all shaky and so disgusted," Bridges wrote on her Facebook page.
Bridges also told the Courier-Journal the man's face was bloodied and he seemed dazed. She said she saw him run back onto the plane after being dragged down the aisle. A short time later, a medical crew came aboard to tend to the man, she said. Some passengers left the plane after the incident.
"Everyone was shocked and appalled," Bridges said.
Reader Comments
Is that what this is called? Last I checked it was Assault, Battery, Kidnapping, et al. (Note: we don't need any new laws - just enforce the old ones - I mean the OLDEST ones! - and that's all a Gov. need do.)
Nowadays, 'EVERYTHING' has got to be made a crime. We have long been on the slippery slope to where not completely stopping at a stop sign (which I ALWAYS do to the detriment of my spine and passengers) will suffer 5 years imprisonment. Hell, why not the death penalty.
Miller, in his prescient book (READ IT) 'Drug Warriors and Their Prey' (i.e., you, me, us) points out that one could have made joblessness a crime, too, as it was in the USSR for a time. Why a criminal treatment on a medical condition? Oh, we all know. Preaching to the choir.
R.C.
a) never to fly United Airlines again
b) never again to visit this once inspirational and delightful land called America now that it's been taken over by neo-fascists
But, as Tim Wu writes in The New Yorker, "To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, I didnโt actually leave United Airlines: the airline left me." [Link]
Ditto, the United States.
Am truly in deep mourning.
If United needed the seat, then offer enough money to passengers to pay for it. $10,000.00 and there would been seats made available. They stole it by force of violence.