New footage shows prelude to United Airlines incident

  • 13/04/2017

A recently released video has shown what occurred in the moments immediately leading up to the forceful removal of a passenger on a United Airlines flight.

United Airlines has been the target of worldwide anger after footage emerged of a doctor being dragged screaming from his seat after the airline realised they needed to put extra crew members on the plane so they could work on another flight.

Some footage of the incident shows 69-year-old Dr David Dao's face being smacked on his armrest so hard that it bleeds, which has culminated in widespread fury at the airline.

But now new footage, filmed by a passenger seated behind Dr Dao, shows him defying police's requests for him to get out of his seat, explaining that he needed to be back in time to go to work.

"I won't go. I'm a physician, I have to work tomorrow at 8 o'clock," he can be heard saying. "I am not going. I am not going!"

The officer can then be heard telling him that they will have to use force to remove him from his seat if he refused to get out voluntarily - a statement to which Dr Dao said "well, you can drag me down".

That, of course, is exactly what they did just moments later - though by that stage Dr Dao had reportedly told the officer he would "make a lawsuit against United Airlines" if they used force to remove him from his seat.

Dr Dao has made moves towards following through with that threat - with lawyers filing an emergency request to require the carrier to preserve video recordings and other evidence related to the now notorious incident.

The legal filing will likely preface a lawsuit against United over his violent removal from the aircraft.

Newshub.