If you haven't seen the video from last night of an Asian doctor getting bullied, beaten up, and dragged off United Airlines Flight 3411 from Chicago to Louisville for not volunteering to give up his seat during an "overbooked" flight situation, please click here.
Enforcing ridiculous dress codes, the complaint that went viral about United last month, is draconic. Ripping the shirt off someone's back is downright cruel. Leggings are one thing; beating someone up is another.
The Office for Civil Rights of the Federal Aviation Administration must investigate this matter immediately. And we customers must vote with our wallets and boycott United.
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Here's the description of the event in the Louisville Courier-Journal:
The video, posted by Audra D. Bridges at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, is taken from an aisle seat on a commercial airplane that appears to be preparing to take flight. The 31-second clip shows three men wearing radio equipment and security jackets speaking with a man seated on the plane.
Passengers were told that the flight would not take off until the United crew had seats, Bridges said, and the offer [to give up seats for stand-by United employees] was increased from $400 to $800, but no one volunteered.
Then, she said, a manager came aboard the plane and said a computer would select four people to be taken off the flight. One couple was selected first and left the airplane, she said, before the man in the video was confronted. Bridges said the man became "very upset" and said that he was a doctor who needed to see patients at a hospital in the morning.
The manager told him that security would be called if he did not leave willingly, Bridges said, and the man said he was calling his lawyer. One security official came and spoke with him, and then another security officer came when he still refused. Then, she said, a third security official came on the plane and threw the passenger against the armrest before dragging him out of the plane.
According to passengers, the man said he was a doctor who needed to get home to care for patients the next day.
At no point was United Airlines' actions and conduct professional, courteous, or proportionate to the actions of the passenger.
The computer allegedly selected the Asian doctor to give up his seat. But you cannot blame the computer for these despicable, dehumanizing actions. I am absolutely disgusted and will never fly United Airlines again, and I hope you will join me. We must demand respect. It is more important than ever that we vote with our wallets. We should not support corporations who perform unconscionable acts in the name of economy and efficiency.
Doctors save lives, United Airlines assaults them. This video meets the legal definition of assault and battery, plain and simple.
Renwei Chung is a Community Voices contributor. Twitter: @RenweiChung.