By Police1 Staff
CHICAGO — The United Airlines CEO said that the company will no longer use airport authorities or local police to remove overbooked passengers from flights after video of an aviation security officer dragging a man off a plane went viral.
Oscar Munoz told ABC News Wednesday that the passenger, Dr. David Dao, was not at fault and the incident occurred due to a “system failure” that resulted in a “lack of common sense.”
“We’re not going to put a law enforcement official... to remove a booked, paid, seated passenger,” Munoz said. “We can’t do that.”
Airline officials told ABC that they offered passengers at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport up to $800 to volunteer their seats for four crew members who needed to board. When no one volunteered, the computer generated four passengers’ names. Dao, 69, was the only one who refused due to his need to see hospital patients.
“The doctor needed to work at the hospital the next day,” witness Jayse Anspach tweeted. “So he refused to ‘volunteer.’”
Dao can be seen in the video being dragged out of the plane with blood running down his face. His lawyers said he is recovering in a local hospital from his injuries.
In an email to employees on Tuesday, Munoz said Dao was “disruptive and belligerent” before he was removed by officers. Later he said the company is investigating and he “deeply apologize[s] to the customer forcibly removed and to all customers on board. No one should ever be mistreated this way.”
“I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right,” he continued.
The security officer involved has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation. The Chicago Department of Aviation told ABC that the officer’s action were “not in keeping with the standard operating procedure.”