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A Chicago aviation security officer fired after forcibly removing a United Airlines passenger is suing the airline and his former employer, according to court documents. James Long filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the department, its commissioner, Ginger Evans, and United. On April 9, 2017, aviation security officers, including Long, were called to a United flight for a passenger who refused to give up his seat. The responding officers approached the passenger, Dr. David Dao, and tried to persuade him to leave calmly, after which Dao told them, “I’m not leaving this flight that I paid money for. I don’t care...

In a new report, United Airlines admits several mistakes were made before, during and after a man was violently dragged off a flight earlier this month, including calling in law enforcement to resolve an incident that was neither a safety nor security issue. In the report, released Thursday, the airline says it had allowed internal policies to distract from the need to treat passengers with dignity and respect and it outlines what the company intends to do to prevent a repeat of the incident. Under the airline’s new customer-first policy, travelers who voluntarily give up their seats will be eligible...

Newly released police documents claim that Dr. David Dao, the passenger who was shown being dragged off a United Airlines flight on April 9 in widely shared videos, behaved violently toward the officers removing him, but his lawyer dismissed this account as “utter nonsense.” The phone videos taken by other passengers set off waves of criticism and multiple statements from the airline, each more apologetic than the last. The police reports were released Monday afternoon in response to a freedom of information request filed by The New York Times and other news organizations. The releases included audio of the original...

But part of the phenomenon long precedes YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and social media dictating the news. It's the American cult of victimization You’ve been snookered folks! By that poor elderly doctor who was involuntarily dragged from his seat, had his face smashed in, and was beaten unconscious by the evil airport security at the behest of United Airlines. Because there’s no evidence any of that was true. It was in fact a premeditated temper tantrum gone viral, comprising one 69-year-old Vietnamese-American David Dao, a medical doctor who lost his license, planning a lawsuit from the moment United first politely asked...

Police: “You’re under arrest. Put your hands behind your back!” Suspect: “Don’t touch me! I didn’t do anything!” Police: “Oh, you didn’t? Sorry about that. My mistake. Off you go.” That was a hypothetical conversation that has never occurred. Do we really want to live in a society where individuals get to choose whether or not they feel like complying with the police at any given time? In the mid-1960’s, The Bobby Fuller Four fought the law, and the law won. Several years later, John Cougar Mellencamp reminded us that when he fights authority, authority always wins. And the same...

The video of Dr. David Dao, with blood on his face and his shirt up, being dragged off a United Airline plane by a security guard sparked outrage and wide condemnation, not just in the U.S., but also in China. It was viewed over 600 million times through China's Twitter-like service, Weibo, provided by Sina.com. While in the U.S., media and public largely focused on United's poor customer service and PR fiasco afterwards, Chinese netizens zeroed in on Dr. Dao's race.Dr. Dao was first reported as a Chinese American, but later reports identified him as a Vietnamese American. But this later correction doesn't...

Like all airlines, United has a very specific (and lengthy!) contract for carriage outlining the contractual relationship between the airline and the passenger. It includes a familiar set of provisions for when a passenger may be denied boarding (Rule 25: “Denied Boarding Compensation”). When a flight is oversold, UA can deny boarding to some passengers, who then receive compensation under specific guidelines. However, Dao was not denied boarding. He was granted boarding and then involuntarily removed from the airplane. What does the contract say about that? It turns out that the contract has a specific rule regarding “Refusal of Transport”...

The passenger who was forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight by aviation security officials Sunday garnered much public sympathy in the days since video emerged of him being dragged, bloody and screaming, down the aisle of a plane. David Dao, 69, retained a lawyer and filed a petition with an Illinois court to get all evidence related to the incident preserved. While a lawsuit wasn't filed, Dao’s lawyer confirmed in a press conference Thursday there would likely be one, which begs the question: In the wake of such a high-profile, controversial incident, how much will Dao get? “Dr. Dao...

[...] The origin of the rumor appears to stem from a bit of sloppy Googling by users of a crowd-sourced site called Everipedia, which published erroneous information that then spread across social media and was taken as fact. The site describes itself as “the encyclopedia of everything,” and it functions similarly to Wikipedia, where users contribute the content. As Dao’s name first began to circulate publicly, users of Everipedia created a page for Dao that identified him as David Thanh Duc Dao, “an American physician based in New Orleans, Louisiana.” To support this identification, users cited links to generic Internet...

Buckle up, United Airlines, because you're about to hit stormy skies. The airline has enraged the public this week for violently yanking an uncooperative passenger off an overbooked flight. Now, the company is gearing up for a legal battle that can't be fixed with a half-assed apology tweet. While United was playing the aviation blame game, the victim of Sunday's incident, Dr. David Dao, enlisted the aid of two prominent Chicago attorneys, hinting that he plans on giving the airline quite the ass kicking in court. The 69-year-old medical professional has hired corporate law specialist Stephen Golan and personal injury...

The passenger is being treated for injuries in a Chicago hotelUnited Airlines' parent company CEO Oscar Munoz on Tuesday apologized to the passenger dragged off a flight over the weekend. "Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard," Munoz wrote in a memo to his team. "No one should ever be mistreated this way." Brief Marriage Preceded Fatal Calif. School Shooting The passenger has been identified as Dr. David Dao, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, NBC News reported. The Associated Press also...

The United Airlines passenger dragged off a flight was a doctor who said he was trying to get home to his patients. The Louisville Courier-Journal says Dr. David Dao is a Vietnamese-American immigrant who specializes in pulmonary disease in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. On Sunday, he was one of four United Express Flight 3411 passengers "randomly selected" to be removed from an overbooked plane in Chicago bound for Louisville, 40 miles outside of Elizabethtown.

The man dragged from a full United Express flight by airport police in Chicago is a Kentucky physician who was convicted more than a decade ago of felony charges involving his prescribing of drugs. But while the passenger's unflattering history quickly became the focus of attention, there's no indication that his past influenced how he was treated or that the airline or police were aware of his background. And it's unlikely that officials would have known anything about him other than basic identifying information such as his name and address, if that. A person with knowledge of the Sunday evening...

FULL TITLE: PICTURED: The internal medicine specialist father-of-five who was beaten and dragged off an overbooked United flight as CEO pens 'tone deaf' email DEFENDING staff The passenger who was dragged from an United Airlines flight is 69-year-old grandfather Dr David Dao. Footage of the Vietnamese-American being hauled off the overbooked flight at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Sunday caused outrage on Monday. Dr Dao was heard in videos captured of his shocking eviction saying he needed to get home to Louisville so he could see patients. DailyMail.com can reveal Dr Dao is a father of five and a grandfather,...

The United Airlines passenger who was hauled off an overbooked plane is a poker-playing doctor from Kentucky with a sordid past. Dr. David Dao, 69, who was captured in a now-viral video being forcibly dragged off the Louisville-bound flight at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Sunday, was working as a doctor specializing in pulmonary disease in Elizabethtown when he was convicted of trading prescription drugs for sex favors. According to documents filed with the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, Dao was arrested in 2003 on the drug-related offenses following an undercover investigation.