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In a shocking incident a United Airlines passenger was pulled out of his seat and dragged along the aisle floor after the airline overbooked a flight.
Several videos posted online by other passengers showed a man screaming as officers yanked him from his seat on United Flight 3411 before it departed from Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Louisville, Kentucky, on Sunday.
The man, who appeared to be Asian, refused to leave as he was a doctor and needed to be work at a hospital the next morning, according to passengers who uploaded videos.
He was seen being dragged down the aisle on his back by his hands, body limp, bleeding from the mouth, glasses askew and shirt pulled up above his navel.
The videos sparked outrage on social media, the second time in less than a month that United was criticized for its treatment of passengers.
Chief Executive Officer of United Airlines Oscar Munoz has issued a statement on the matter, describing the event as “upsetting” to all at the company.
He said the organization was working with authorities and plan to contact the passenger to establish what happened.
Munoz, who was just last month named US Communicator of the Year for 2017 by PR Week, was blasted, however, by some for his euphemistic language.
Social media users equated his remarks with Orwellian doublespeak while others used memes to troll the airline’s extreme actions.
The Chicago Department of Aviation said in a statement that one of the officers did not follow protocol and added that he had been placed on leave pending a review for actions not condoned by the department.
The US Department of Transportation said it was reviewing whether United complied with overbook rules that require airlines to set guidelines on how passengers are denied boarding if they do not volunteer to give up their seats.
"While it is legal for airlines to involuntarily bump passengers from an oversold flight when there are not enough volunteers, it is the airline's responsibility to determine its own fair boarding priorities," a DOT spokesperson said in a statement.
Here's how Twitter reacted to the incident.
