A video posted on Facebook by one Audra D. Bridges showing a passenger on a United Airlines flight being forcibly removed from the plane before takeoff is making its rounds on social media.
The 31-second clip, taken from an aisle seat on United Flight 3411 as the plane was preparing to take flight from Chicago to Louisville at O’Hare International Airport, shows 3 men wearing radio equipment and security jackets speaking with a seated man.
A few seconds later, a loud, anguished scream is heard and one of the men is seen violently grabbing the passenger and dragging him by the arms towards the front of the plane. Several passengers can be heard shouting at the manner in which the man was being hauled out. “No, this is wrong! Oh my god look at what you did to him!” one woman exclaimed.
A United Airlines spokesperson later confirmed that a passenger had been taken off a flight in Chicago. “Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate,” the spokesperson said.
“We apologise for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities,” the spokesperson added.
Another passenger, Twitter user @JayseDavid, also shared a video of the incident, taken from another angle.
@United overbook #flight3411 and decided to force random passengers off the plane. Here's how they did it: pic.twitter.com/QfefM8X2cW
— Jayse D. Anspach (@JayseDavid) April 10, 2017
As seen in the above video, the security appears to have violently thrown the man, who appears to be Asian, against the armrest before dragging him across the seats and onto the aisle.
According to Audra D. Bridges, passengers were allowed to board the flight but once the plane filled up, United Airlines had asked for 4 volunteers to give up their seats because additional flight crew needed to get to Louisville. When nobody offered to do so, the commotion happened.
The passenger who was forcibly removed was a doctor who needed to see patients at a hospital in the morning. He was later able to get back on the plane, but he had a bloody face and he was still disheveled from the wrangle. He also seemed disoriented as he jogged down the aisle while repeatedly saying to nobody in particular, “I have to go home, I have to go home, I have to go home.”
@united @CNN @FoxNews @WHAS11 Man forcibly removed from plane somehow gets back on still bloody from being removed pic.twitter.com/njS3nC0pDl
— Tyler Bridges (@Tyler_Bridges) April 10, 2017
United Airlines has since released a statement regarding the above matter. The company’s CEO Oscar Munoz called the episode “an upsetting event to all of us here at United” and apologised for “having to re-accommodate the customers”. He also added that the United Airlines team was moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct their 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,” he said.
Meanwhile, one of the security officers involved in the incident has been placed on leave pending an investigation.
UPDATE (11th April, 11am):
New footage has emerged following the social media explosion over the passenger who was ill-treated on United Airlines’ Flight 3411. In the videos, which were uploaded by Twitter user @kaylyn_davis, whose husband was on the flight, the elderly man can be seen clearly terrified and clinging on to a curtain while saying, “I have to go home, I have to go home, I have to go home.” and “Just kill me, just kill me, just kill me.”
This breaks our hearts 🙁
#flythefriendlyskies my husband was on that flight. Screw you United!! @united pic.twitter.com/4EcxrMy5jZ
— Kaylyn Davis (@kaylyn_davis) April 10, 2017
#flythefriendlyskies @united no words. This poor man!! pic.twitter.com/rn0rbeckwT
— Kaylyn Davis (@kaylyn_davis) April 10, 2017
Sources: Audra D. Bridges, @JayseDavid, @Tyler_Bridges, courier-journal, @united, Reuters, @kaylyn_davis / Featured image: go4viral.
