Kentucky man pulled from United flight remains hospitalized
United CEO calls confrontation 'truly horrific'
United CEO calls confrontation 'truly horrific'
United CEO calls confrontation 'truly horrific'
The Elizabethtown man who was pulled from a Louisville-bound flight told WLKY he is recovering in a hospital.
Dr. David Dao said he was the man shown in the now viral video being removed from Flight 3411 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Sunday.
Dao, 69, said he’s recovering in a Chicago hospital. When asked what his injuries were, he said “everything" and that he was not doing well.
“The family of Dr. Dao wants the world to know that they are very appreciative of the outpouring of prayers, concern and support they have received. Currently, they are focused only on Dr. Dao’s medical care and treatment,” the family's attorney Stephen Golan said.
Video taken by Jayse Anspach shows officials pulling Dao from his seat and dragging him down the aisle.
"After they dragged him off, I mean he was bleeding," said Anspach. "He hit his face when they initially dragged him off."
United said the incident happened after airline officials asked for volunteers to give up their seats to make room for four crew members trying to get to Louisville.
When no one volunteered, four people were chosen at random to be bumped from the flight.
Dao and his wife, who is also a physician, live in Elizabethtown.
During the incident Sunday, passengers heard the father of five say he had to get home to see patients on Monday.
"He just was not willing to get off the plane. He started yelling at her, 'I'm a doctor. I have patients I have to see in the morning. I have to get back tonight. I can't be delayed,'" passenger Tyler Bridges said.
In a second video recorded about 10 minutes later, Dao can be seen running back on the plane.
"Just repeats, saying, 'I've got to get home, I've got to get home, I've got to get home.' In this daze, you can tell he's dazed from being unconscious, confused," Bridges said.
On Tuesday, United Airlines' CEO Oscar Munoz called the confrontation "truly horrific" and said in a note to employees, "No one should ever be mistreated this way."
Munoz said he is committed to "fix what's broken so this never happens again."
He pledged to review the company's policies for seeking volunteers to give up their seats, for handling oversold flights and for partnering with airport authorities and local law enforcement.
The company plans to share results of the review by April 30.
Earlier, Munoz defended his employees and said they followed proper procedures in dealing with the situation.
A Chicago Aviation Department police officer is on leave for not following standard operating procedure in the incident.
WLKY will continue to investigate this story and bring you any additional relevant information as we learn it.