The Chicago Department of Aviation reportedly fired two officers involved in dragging a Louisville, Kentucky, doctor off a United Airlines flight in April.
In a report obtained by the Chicago Tribune, the city’s Office of Inspector General determined that three aviation security officers and an aviation security sergeant “mishandled” the situation that grabbed national headlines. The city also found that officers provided misleading statements and purposely removed “material facts” from their reports.
Read More: David Dao: Doctor dragged off plane files court papers demanding United Airlines preserve evidence
In light of the damning report, the Department of Aviation decided to terminate a security officer who allegedly “improperly escalated” the April 9 incident and the sergeant accused of redacting facts from an employee report, according to the local paper.
“As we have clearly stated, the department is taking every action in our power to ensure that an incident like this never, ever occurs again,” aviation spokeswoman Lauren Huffman said in a statement to the Tribune.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, officers were recorded dragging Dr. David Dao, 69, off a flight after he refused to give up a seat he paid for. The doctor was one of four people randomly chosen to get off the overbooked flight at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
Dao’s lawyer, Thomas Demetrio, said his client suffered a concussion, a broken nose and two lost teeth lost two teeth in the filmed altercation.
“Here’s the law, real simple: If you’re going to eject a passenger, under no circumstances can it be done with unreasonable force or violence. That’s the law,” the attorney said days after the incident.
The inspector general originally ordered a five-day suspension for two other officers. However, one officer appealed the ruling and had his suspension lowered to two days and another officer who appealed resigned before officials made a resolution, according to DNAinfo.
In line with rules governing the Inspector General’s Office, the report didn’t reveal the disciplined officers’ identities.
On Tuesday, Demetrio told the paper that he was “neither vindictive nor happy about” the inspector general’s findings.
“Do not state something that is clearly contrary to video viewed by the world,” Demetrio said. “But for the video, the filed report stating that only ‘minimal’ force was used would have been unnoticed.”
“Simply put, don’t make stuff 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
[Featured Image: Youtube (screenshot)]
