Videos posted to Facebook and Twitter show a passenger on United Airlines Flight 3411 being dragged from the plane before takeoff at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
Audra D. Bridges posted one video to Facebook at 7:30 p.m. Sunday that appears to show three officers speaking with the man seconds before grabbing him and pulling his from his seat. The man screams as he is dragged down the aisle of the plane that was scheduled to fly to Louisville, Ky.
The Courier-Journal reported that a United spokesperson confirmed in an email Sunday night that a passenger had been taken off a flight in Chicago.
"Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked," the spokesperson said. "After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate.
"We apologize for the overbook situation. Further details on the removed customer should be directed to authorities."
On Monday, another United spokesman, Charlie Hobart, said airline employees named four customers who had to leave the plane and that three of them did so. He said law enforcement was called when the fourth person refused to get off the plane.
"We followed the right procedures," Hobart told the Associated Press in a phone interview. "That plane had to depart. We wanted to get our customers to their destinations, and when one gentleman refused to get off the aircraft, we had to call the Chicago Police Department."
This isn't much of a story really but Willie's version is so incomplete that it should be disregarded.
Here's a much better story (including the part where the man who was removed, supposedly a doctor, was returned to his seat bloodied and allowed to fly).
The flight was only "overbooked" because United decided to boot passengers off so it could deadhead 4 flight crew. Now it's all blown up on them, they get bad press, and that bloody doctor is very likely to sue them and possibly the Chicago PD.
