The Latest: United pilots: Dragged passenger not our fault
CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on the removal of a passenger was dragged off a United Express flight in Chicago (all times local):
9:45 a.m.
United Airlines pilots want it known that they had nothing to do with the incident in which a passenger was violently dragged off a United Express plane in Chicago.
In a statement, the pilots union says that the forcible removal of Dr. David Dao by O'Hare International Airport security officials happened Sunday night on a United Express carrier that is "separately owned and operated by Republic Airline."
The union says United pilots were not flying the jet and that the four who were given the seats of Dao and three other passengers who were ordered off the plane work for Republic, not United.
They say they are "infuriated" by what happened and blamed the debacle on the "grossly inappropriate" actions of the security officers.
United CEO Oscar Munoz has apologized to Dao and the other passengers on the aircraft.
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12:05 a.m.
A lawyer for a man who suffered a concussion and lost two teeth when he was dragged off a United Express flight hopes the 69-year-old becomes "a poster child" for the mistreatment passengers suffer at the hands of the airline industry.
Attorney Thomas Demetrio indicated Thursday Dr. David Dao will sue United and the city of Chicago, which employs the officers who pulled Dao off Sunday's Louisville-bound flight.
In widely shared cellphone video, Dao is dragged down the aisle on his back, his face bloody.
Demetrio said the video showed an extraordinary instance of something that happens too routinely: Airlines overbooking flights then bumping paying customers.
He says it exposed a culture in which airlines have "bullied" passengers.
United has apologized and says it won't happen again.
