Doctor on Overbooked United Flight Tells Cops, 'I Won't Go'
By Ryan Craggs. Photos: Getty.
While the controversy surrounding a United Airlines passenger being violently dragged off a plane has likely already crested, bits of intrigue continue to trickle out about how this public relations nightmare happened in the first place. The latest: a new video capturing passenger Dr. David Dao telling police he wouldn't leave, right before they made him.
The video, taken by fellow passenger Dr. Joya Cummings and uploaded to YouTube, shows Dao on his phone and talking with police after he'd been selected to involuntarily de-board the plane because the airline wanted to make room for crew needed in Louisville the next day.
"I won't go. I'm [a] physician, have to work tomorrow, 8 o’clock,” he says.
Though difficult to hear at certain points, the video then captures police responding to Dao.
"No, I am not going. I am not going," Dao says. The next part is hard to make out, but at a certain point the officer responds by saying, "We'll have to drag you."
"You can then drag me out. I won't go. I'm not going. I'll stay right there," Dao says.
After another inaudible exchange, the officer says to Dao that he's "making it a lot harder" and asks him if he'd rather go to jail.
The rest of the video continues to be difficult to hear, but the previously released videos appear to pick up soon after the exchange in the new video, showing Dao being wrestled from his seat and dragged down the aisle off the plane. And while the public outrage has likely already hit its peak, Dao allegedly remains in a Chicago hospital, according to his attorney, who also held a press conference today that detailed the doctor's alleged injuries.
This is not likely to be the last notable tidbit to come out of the incident—but the bigger question still remains about what, if any, changes the passenger-dragging scandal will bring.
This story originally appeared on Conde Nast Traveler.
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