United passenger suffered concussion, broken nose and lost teeth, attorney says | Miami Herald

Thousands of people chimed in on social media saying they would sue after seeing video of Dr. David Dao being dragged off a United flight Sunday night.

Dao “probably” will sue United, according to his attorney.

In a press conference Thursday, Dao’s attorneys detailed their thinking behind the probable lawsuit. Dao’s lawyer, Chicago personal injury lawyer Thomas Demetrio, filed an emergency bill of discovery in an Illinois court for both United and the City of Chicago, which runs O’Hare International Airport, to preserve all evidence in his case, including surveillance videos, cockpit voice recordings, passenger and crew lists and incident reports, according to CNBC.

“If you’re going to eject a passenger, under no circumstances can it be done with unreasonable force or violence,” Demetrio said. “That’s the law. If unreasonable force and violence is used, under a set of circumstances, the airline, in this case United Airlines, is responsible.”

“People have asked me, ‘Well, why don’t you just file the lawsuit?’” he added later. “When we file our lawsuit, it’s going to be because every word, every preposition, is in that lawsuit for a reason.”

Crystal Pepper, one of Dao’s five adult children, said the family was “completely horrified” when they saw the video and the entire family’s lives “have been interrupted.” Dao’s wife and most of his children are also physicians.

“What happened to my dad should never have happened to any human being, regardless of the circumstance,” Pepper said. “We were horrified, and shocked, and sickened to see what happened to him.”

She added her father was healing, and Demetrio said Dao was discharged from the hospital Wednesday night and had suffered a concussion and a broken nose, for which Dao would require reconstructive surgery. Demetrio also said he lost a couple of teeth in the incident due to the officers, who he referred to as “storm troopers.”

The three officers involved in the the violent incident have all been suspended, though a collective bargaining agreement prevents the city from naming them, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

United told passengers at O’Hare Sunday night that they needed four passengers on a flight to Louisville to give up their seats for stand-by employees, according to an account by a passenger who took the viral video. Employees first offered $400 plus a night’s stay at a hotel for people willing to take a 3 p.m. flight on Monday, but no passengers volunteered. United employees then boarded the flight and offered $800 and a hotel for the night for people willing to give up their seat, but still no one was willing.

Employees then used a computer to randomly select four people to get off the flight. Dao was one of them, but he refused, saying he had patients he needed to see the next morning. United employees called security, and multiple videos show officers slamming Dao against the armrest as he screams and then dragging him down the aisle.

Another video that shows Dao back on the plane later indicates his face was bloodied in the incident. Demetrio said Dao had “not a lick” of memory of running back onto the plane.

On Monday afternoon, United CEO Oscar Munoz issued a statement saying they were reaching out to Dao to “further address and resolve this situation.” But in a note to employees that day, Munoz described Dao as “disruptive and belligerent” and said he stood behind the employees, according to CNBC.

After backlash to the original response – many deemed it insufficient – and the letter to employees, Munoz issued a fuller statement, apologizing and calling what happened to Dao a “horrific event.”

Demetrio said contrary to what Munoz had said publicly, United employees had not reached out to the Dao family or their attorneys. He added that the family appreciated his public apology, though it “doesn’t let him off the hook.”

United’s stock fell about $1.4 billion on Tuesday, and many called for boycotting the airline. United reportedly refunded all passengers on the flight.

“For a long time, airlines, United in particular, have bullied us. They have treated us less than, maybe, we deserve,” Demetrio said Thursday. “I conclude, based upon hundreds, literally hundreds of tales of woe, of mistreatment by United, is that here’s what we want as a society: We want fairness in how people treat us, we want respect, and we want dignity. That’s it, not a big deal. It’s so simple.”

The Department of Transportation announced Wednesday they would be looking into the incident to see if United violated consumer protections.