[glasseye]

Sure, the guy may lose the lawsuit.
United will lose 10,000 X more by not settling.
If they fail to genuflect they will be crushed by the public.
How many people out there right now will choose another carrier if everything else is equal?
Know I would.

[masadaman]

Has it been determined that the good Dr. Dao was arrested? If not, the entire matter changes. If one is approached by an officer of the law and questions his request (for whatever reason), the subject of the request merely needs to ask, "Officer, are you arresting me?" If he answers "yes", then you need to comply including offering to be cuffed by placing your hands together in front of you. One cannot be put in a situation of resisting arrest.

OTOH, if the officer says, "no" or refuses to answer, then the subject may inform the officer that "If you are not arresting me, I'm not moving etc". There are exceptions such as traffic detours, emergencues of all sorts including floods and hurricanes where you must move to a certain place and, of course, crime scenes. FWIW, I doubt whether Dao was arrested, and I doubt if the airport cop would have touched him if Dao had asked the question.