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Doctor knocked unconscious, forcibly removed for not volunteering seat on overbooked flight





Passengers on a United Airlines flight 3411 headed to Louisville from Chicago were horrified yesterday when a doctor was knocked unconscious and violently pulled from the aircraft. The doctor screamed as he was being tazed by multiple law enforcement officers, but was knocked unconscious after his head struck another passenger’s arm rest. His offense? Refusing to volunteer his seat to flight staff on an overbooked flight.

According to United Airlines, the staff asked for volunteers to give up their seats so that another flight crew could make it to work the next day. Before boarding the plane, passengers were offered $400, a hotel room, and a ticket for another flight the next day. No one volunteered and all passengers were seated. Once the passengers were seated, United Airline staff repeated the announcement, but the payout was increased to $800. There still weren’t any volunteers.

A manager then announced that four “volunteers” would be selected at random using a computer. One couple complied and left peacefully, but a doctor traveling with his wife refused. The doctor said that he had patients who could not wait and needed his attention at the hospital as soon as possible. Police were called to remove him with force.

According to the Telegraph, one passenger tweeted: “He told the police and the United employees he had to be at the hospital in the morning to see patients.” Another passenger wrote, “Kids were crying and people are disturbed.”

Jayse D. Anspach was one of the witnesses on flight 3411 who recorded the violent outburst. On twitter he wrote, “#United overbooked and wanted 4 of us to volunteer to give up our seats for personnel that needed to be at work the next day.”

WARNING: The footage below may be disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.

Shortly after being removed, the doctor managed to break free from the officers and ran back onto the plane. He was covered in blood and clearly disoriented as he told passengers he needed to go home. The frightened man was seen clutching a dividing curtain and repeating “They’ll kill me, they’ll kill me” while blood poured from his mouth.

United Airlines released the following press 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 apologize for the overbook situation.”

UPDATE: The Chicago Police department Office of Communications has released a statement saying that the 69-year-old man “fell” and hit his face on the armrest.

United Airlines followed up with a second statement on Twitter apologizing to the four customers who were removed from the flight.