The United Airlines dragging fiasco involving passenger Dr. David Dao is far from over. New surveillance footage and audio has been released that sheds further light on the incident as NBC News has obtained 911 audio and further video. Furthermore, statements from the officer involved in forcibly removing Dao from the flight, identified as James Long, have been released as well via the a Freedom of Information Act request from the Associated Press.
What Happened?
New surveillance footage shows Dao boarding the flight from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky on April 9.
Audio from post-boarding reveals how gate workers called airport security to forcibly remove Dao from the plane, who refused to give up his seat to make room for crew members.
“Were they drinking, were they doing anything like that?” the dispatcher asks in the call.
“No it’s something with an onversold, involunteer [sic] something like that,” the caller responds.
“Oh you guys overbooked the flight? This is a departing flight?” the dispatcher asks.
“Yeah,” the caller responds.
@united @CNN @FoxNews @WHAS11 Man forcibly removed from plane somehow gets back on still bloody from being removed pic.twitter.com/njS3nC0pDl
— Tyler Bridges (@Tyler_Bridges) April 10, 2017
The surveillance footage then features an aviation security car pulling up to the plane and guards boarding the flight. Soon after, Dao’s wife is seen running off the plane and then quickly getting back on board.
Video from the initial incident show Dao refusing to relinquish his seat, saying that he had patients to treat the next morning. One of three officers than physically yanks Dao from his seat and drags him down the aisle and off the plane. Once back at the gate, Dr. Dao then ran back on the plane and refused to move again.
The security guard involved shared his side of the story in the footage and audio released by the AP.
In the report, Long said he was called to the flight in response to a disturbance involving two people regarding a refusal to leave the aircraft. United has said four passengers had been ordered off the airplane to make room for four employees to fly to Louisville, Kentucky.
Long said he asked Dr. David Dao, 69, to get off the plane. Long said Dao refused and “folded his arms tightly.” Long said he then reached out to “hold” Dao and was able to pull him away from his window seat on the aircraft and move toward the aisle.
“But suddenly the subject started flailing and fighting,” Long wrote.
Dao then knocked Long’s hand off his arm, causing the struggling Dao to fall and strike his mouth on an arm rest on the other side of the aisle, according to the report. He claims that he then dragged Dao because due to the Doctor’s refusal to stand up.
@United overbook #flight3411 and decided to force random passengers off the plane. Here's how they did it: pic.twitter.com/QfefM8X2cW
— Jayse D. Anspach (@JayseDavid) April 10, 2017
Long said he wrote the report because he faced being fired. In a separate report released Monday, noted as a “Hospitalization Case Report,” the Chicago Police Department said Dao was seen striking his face against an armrest as officers “attempted to escort” him from the flight. Neither report comments on Dao’s injuries, but at a news conference days after the ordeal, Dao’s attorney said he suffered a broken nose and a concussion and lost two front teeth.
Long said once he removed Dao from the plane, the doctor said he was a diabetic, but then got up off the floor and sprinted back onto the aircraft. The officer alleges that Dao said they’d have to kill him while running back to the plane. Long was one of three aviation officers who were placed on leave after the incident.
Who Is David Dao?
David Dao is a 69-year-old grandfather and doctor. He is Vietnamese-American and previously worked at Hardin Memorial Hospital before opening his own medical practice. Per The Daily Mail, Dao’s wife Teresa, 69, is a pediatrician who trained at Ho Chi Minh University in Saigon and now practices in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Their eldest son Tim, 34, practices medicine in Texas; their second son Ben, 31, is a medical graduate; their daughter Christine, 33, is a doctor in Durham, NC; and their youngster daughter Angela, 27, is a medical graduate of the University of Kentucky.
However, Dao had his medical license suspended for more than a decade for illegally prescribing patients with painkillers. He spent more than two years in prison in the early 2000s for his past convictions. In 2003, he was charged with 98 counts of illegally prescribing and trafficking prescription painkillers such as hydrocodone, Oxycontin and Percocet.
Dao was caught on surveillance video meeting patients and supplying them with painkillers, mainly hydrocodone.
According to a criminal complaint on at least one occasion, Dao received $174 in exchange for the pills in an unlabeled bottle. From 2001-2003, Dao “unlawfully prescribed controlled substances” to patients, court documents said. The criminal complaint continued that Dao would solicit homosexual relations with a male patient in exchange for a prescription for hydrocodone.
Dao was arrested by police at a hotel room in Jefferson County on July 25, 2003. He was ultimately convicted of six charges.
In March 2016, board chair C. William Briscoe agreed to allow Dao to resume his practice of medicine in Kentucky.
