The United Airlines passenger dragged from his seat prior to take off walked away from the ordeal with a broken nose, a concussion, and two fewer teeth, his lawyer said Thursday.
Thomas Demetrio, Dr. David Dao’s lawyer, said the injuries highlight the result of years of bullying paying customers have had to endure at the hands of the airline industry.
"For a long time, airlines, United in particular, have bullied us," Demetrio told a news conference, outlining the potential causes of action they may pursue against United and the city of Chicago.
Crystal Dao Pepper (R), daughter of Dr. David Dao, speaks about her father during a news conference on April 13, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. /CFP Photo
Dao has been released from a hospital but will need reconstructive surgery, Demetrio said at the news conference, appearing alongside one of Dao’s children.
The 69-year-old physician from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, was removed by police from a plane Sunday at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport after refusing to give up his seat on the full flight to make room for four airline employees.
Cellphone video of him being pulled down the aisle on his back and footage of his bloody face has created a public-relations nightmare for United.
United Continental Holdings Inc. airplanes taxi on the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) in Newark, New Jersey, US, on April 12, 2017. /CFP Photo
Demetrio said the law stated that passengers could not be ejected from planes with unreasonable force. Chicago runs the airport and the city's department of aviation employs the three officers who dragged Dao off the plane.
Demetrio said his client will need reconstructive surgery because of the injuries he sustained.
One of Dao’s five children, Crystal Pepper, said the family was “horrified, shocked and sickened” by what happened. She said it was made worse by the fact that it was caught on video.
"What happened to my dad should have never happened to any human being," she said.
Demetrio and a second attorney, Stephen Golan, said neither they nor the family have heard from United yet.
(Source: Agencies)
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