The footage was recorded by a woman sitting directly behind the passenger forcibly removed from United Express flight 3411.
New footage has emerged showing the lead-up to the removal of passenger David Dao from a United Airlines flight earlier this week.
The footage, recorded by passenger Joya Griffin Cummings, who was sat directly behind Dao on the plane, shows Dao remonstrating with the police officers there to remove him from the plane before he was eventually dragged from his seat in an aggressive fashion.
Dao can be seen speaking on his mobile phone about the situation which led to his eventual removal – United Airlines had overbooked the flight and were unsuccessful in seeking a fourth passenger to leave the plane voluntarily – and can be heard saying “No, I’m not going” to the waiting officers.
“You can drag me then, I don’t go. I’m staying. You’ll have to drag me,” Dao says.
After an officer tells him that a failure to co-operate will make things “a lot harder for you,” Dao continues to protest, saying that he had travelled 24 hours from LA and that he would rather go to jail than remove himself from the flight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_x4QVZFmM0
Clip via Joya Griffin Cummings via Storyful News
The footage doesn’t show Dao being forcibly removed from the flight, which surfaced on social media on Monday and has caused a storm of negative publicity for United Airlines since.
Having initially stated that Dao “refused to comply with crew member instructions” and “defied” security in
an email leaked to employees, United Airlines CEO Oscar
Munoz subsequently apologised to Dao in a public statement, in which he described the incident as a “truly horrific event”.
United have subsequently announced that
all passengers on board the plane will be compensated equal to the cost of their tickets and could take the compensation in cash, travel credits or miles.
According to the New York Times, meanwhile, two more officers from the Department of Aviation in the Chicago Police involved in removing Dao from the United flight have been placed on administrative leave; one officer had already been placed on administrative leave earlier this week.
