A PASSENGER dragged from a United Express flight suffered a “significant” concussion and broken nose, and he lost two front teeth, one of his lawyers has said.
Dr David Dao has been discharged from a hospital but he will require reconstructive surgery, said attorney Thomas Demetrio – whose law firm is representing the 69-year-old Kentucky physician.
Dao was removed from the plane on Sunday after he refused to give up his seat on the full flight from Chicago to Louisville.
One of Dao’s five children, Crystal Pepper, said the family was “horrified, shocked and sickened” to learn and see what happened.
She said seeing her father removed from the Sunday flight was “exacerbated” by the fact it was caught on video and widely distributed.
Several videos taken on mobile phones were shared on social media sites showing Dao being taken from his seat.
Demetrio said he likely will file a lawsuit on Dao’s behalf, adding that airlines have long “bullied” passengers.
The video of a passenger being dragged by an officer from a United Express flight shined an unwanted spotlight on the little-known police force that guards Chicago’s two main airports and could threaten the agency’s future.
Chicago’s aviation officers are not part of the regular police force, unlike in many other big cities.
They get less training than regular officers and cannot carry firearms inside the airports.
Three of them were put on leave amid outrage over how they treated the passenger.
Footage of the confrontation “really has put it at risk”, Alderman Chris Taliaferro said on Wednesday.
The city council is now seeking clarification on the situation, with a variety of questions being asked.
At the top of the list is whether the airport officers had the legal authority to board the plane, said Alderman Michael Zalewski, who leads the council’s aviation committee.
“They are allowed in the terminal and baggage area, but my understanding is they may not be allowed on a plane,” he said.
Zalewski also said that he is not sure if the officers have the authority to make arrests or if they are authorised only to write tickets.
He added that airport officers receive four months of training compared with the six months cadets must complete before joining the city’s police department.
“We don’t know what that two-month gap means,” he said, and said he wanted to know if the airport officers receive the same kind of training in de-escalating tense situations as city police officers get.
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