More details regarding the United Airlines Flight 3411 passenger have emerged.
The man, who was seen being violently booted from an airplane in a case of alleged overbooking, is in fact a 69-year-old Vietnamese-American named Dr. David Dao.
According to the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, Dao pursued his medical degree from the University of Medicine in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam and graduated in 1974. It also turns out that he has a pretty intriguing history, with 98 counts of illegally prescribing and trafficking painkillers, including hydrocodone, OxyContin, and Percocet. Dao was then convicted in 2004, and was placed under 5 years of supervised probation.
In TMZ‘s report, Dao is said to be an avid and successful poker player, having made USD243,644 in multiple World Series of Poker tournaments. In fact, his biggest win was in 2009 when he walked away with USD117,774.
That having said, it’s unlikely that Dao was ill-treated because of his background. Troubled past or not, it didn’t warrant a need for United Airlines to forcibly remove him in such a manner, which quite literally resulted in bloodshed.
Dao’s family, through his lawyer, released a statement to say that they are very appreciative over the outpouring of prayers, concern, and support they received. However, until Dao is released from the hospital following the necessary treatment, his family will not be making any statements to the media.
Meanwhile, the airlines’ CEO Oscar Munoz has released another statement following the social media flare up over the incident, calling it a “truly horrific event” and offering his “deepest apologies” for what happened. He also vowed to “take full responsibility” and “work to make it right”, adding that the airlines “will do better”.
Read the statement in full below:
United CEO Oscar Munoz: I’m sorry. We will fix this. https://t.co/v8EPGsiDCi pic.twitter.com/eOPiYcagvo
— United Airlines (@united) April 11, 2017
Sources: Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure, Commonwealth of Kentucky Court of Appeals, TMZ, United Airlines, CNBC.
