A Man Was Dragged Off a United Plane After the Airline Overbooked the Flight

Alicia Melville-Smith, reporting for BuzzFeed:

Bridges said passengers were allowed to board the flight but were later told four people would need to give up their seats for four United employees who were needed in Louisville on Monday.

She said no passengers volunteered, so a manager came aboard and said passengers would be randomly selected and asked to leave.

When asked to leave, the man in the video became “very upset” and said he was a doctor who had patients to see the next day, Bridges said. A manager then told him security would be called if he refused to leave the plane. Three security guards then removed him from his seat while other passengers yelled in disgust.

The description doesn’t do justice to the brutality of this incident. It’s a new world, where everyone is equipped with a high definition video camera.

And it gets even worse: somehow the guy got back on the plane, bloody and panicked, and United removed him again — on a stretcher.

Update: Another video. This one is hard to watch: blood streaming from his mouth, the man is repeating over and over, “Just kill me” while clutching the curtain at the back of the cabin.

★ Monday, 10 April 2017