Feds Investigate United Airlines Incident, Cop Placed On Leave, Passenger Identified As 69 Year Old Doctor

Business Insider reports:

The Department of Transportation is “reviewing” the United Airlines incident involving a man being forcibly removed from a plane, a Department of Transportation spokesperson told Business Insider.

United has come under fire after a video went viral Monday showing a male passenger being dragged by police officers off a flight leaving from Chicago to Louisville. The 69-year-old Asian male passenger went to the hospital for injuries on his face he suffered as a result of the incident. One of the police officers involved in the passenger’s removal has been placed on leave.

The airline said the flight was overbooked and first asked for volunteers to give up their seats in exchange for $800. United said it needed the seats to accommodate crew members. When no one volunteered to give up their seat, United told several passengers that had to leave. When the male passenger refused, he was dragged off by police officers working for the Chicago Aviation Department.

From the Daily Mail:



The passenger who was dragged from an United Airlines flight is 69-year-old grandfather Dr David Dao. Footage of the Vietnamese-American being hauled off the overbooked flight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Sunday caused outrage on Monday.

Dr Dao was heard in videos captured of his shocking eviction saying he needed to get home to Louisville so he could see patients. DailyMail.com can reveal Dr Dao is a father of five and a grandfather, who specializes in internal medicine. Four of his five children are doctors.

His wife Teresa, 69, is a pediatrican who trained at Ho Chi Minh University in Saigon and also practices in Elizabethtown, Kentucky – about 40 miles south of Louisville.