Videos posted on social media showed a screaming man being forcibly removed from an overbooked United Airlines flight before take-off.
The incident happened at O’Hare airport as the plane was getting ready to take-off from Chicago to Louisville on Sunday.
@united @FoxNews @CNN not a good way to treat a Doctor trying to get to work because they overbooked pic.twitter.com/sj9oHk94Ik— Tyler Bridges (@Tyler_Bridges) April 9, 2017
According to Audra D. Bridges, who posted the video on Facebook, the airline had unsuccessfully sought volunteers who were willing to give up their seats for $800 and stay in a hotel.
Then they randomly started to pick up passengers to be kick off the flight so their standby crew could have a seat. The man did not want to get off as he was a doctor and had to be at the hospital the next morning.
@United overbook #flight3411 and decided to force random passengers off the plane. Here's how they did it: pic.twitter.com/QfefM8X2cW— Jayse D. Anspach (@JayseDavid) April 10, 2017
The video clip shows men wearing security jackets speaking with a man seated on the plane. After a few seconds, one of the men grabbed the passenger and dragged him by his arms toward the front of the plane. The passenger is heard screaming as he was dragged by the officials.
The man was somehow able to get back on the plane after being taken off and he ran to the back of the plane, Bridges told Courier-Journal. He looked disoriented and a medical crew entered the plane to deal with the passenger and all other passengers were asked get off the plane.
@united @CNN @FoxNews @WHAS11 Man forcibly removed from plane somehow gets back on still bloody from being removed pic.twitter.com/njS3nC0pDl— Tyler Bridges (@Tyler_Bridges) April 10, 2017
The flight was delayed by two hours and no update was given to passenger about the condition of the man, Bridges said.
United Airlines said in a statement: “Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville was overbooked. After our team looked for volunteers, one customer refused to leave the aircraft voluntarily and law enforcement was asked to come to the gate. We apologise for the overbook situation.”