A disgruntled ex-aviation officer who was terminated for dragging David Dao off an aircraft is suing the City of Chicago and United Airlines.
It has now been a year since the Dao incident. Most have moved on, but ex-Chicago Aviation Officer James Long has not. Yesterday, he filed a lawsuit alleging that he was improperly fired for dragging off Dao. He is seeking back pay and lost contributions to his 401(k) account. He is also alleging that a Chicago Department of Aviation commissioner defamed him.
I’ve covered Long’s side of the story before.
He maintains that he was poorly trained and that United knew exactly what it was asking for when it called him onboard.
Furthermore, Long claims that the Chicago Department of Aviation failed to take his claims seriously, investigate the matter thoroughly, or truly seek to understand his side of the story.
> Read More: Police Officer Who Dragged Doctor Off United Flight Tells His Side
I do not doubt that Long failed to receive specific instruction on the “level of force continuum” to be employed in situations like a passenger adamantly refusing to vacate his seat. I also believe he was called on to be the bouncer and did his job. It is highly unlikely he intended to hurt Dao or break his teeth: he just wanted him off the aircraft.
Even so, is it wrong to say that we while he should have been better trained, he also lacked the critical instincts to perform in a public-facing role? Is his defense really just that he was following orders?
CONCLUSION
I am aware that many of you blame Dao for everything: that he got what he deserved. A year later, I maintain that Dao was the victim.
Even so, I find it disheartening that Long was made a scapegoat for a far deeper problem.
image: Jordan Staub / Flickr CC 2.0
I have not moved on or rather as a result I have moved on from United Airlines in major part due to the Dr. Dao incident. I have not forgotten. I used to fly United Airlines the most for domestic trips and they were on time out of Dulles. However, I will not buy the products of a company who beats up passengers, kills animals, and implements basic economy as punitevly as United did. I do most of my domestic flights with Southwest now as they treat the common customer much better.
When are you (passengers) going to realize that United didn’t “tell” this clown to beat the living daylights out of Dr. Dao to get him off the plane nor do they have any control over the violent reaction he (James Long) was going to demonstrate ??
If you call the police to remove a thief robbing your home, are you responsible for murder if the thief resists arrest, pulls out a gun and is then killed by the police ? Good for you….., go pay your high prices and get your Disneyland experience on Southwest.
You don’t need training to know that the type of behaviour he displayed is not acceptable. Yes better training should have been provided but that is not a free pass to do whatever you want and through commen sense and desency out of the window.
He was “poorly trained” ?…how, not to act like a complete violent animal ? That’s totally on him, not on United or the city of Chicago. Unbelievable, the gall of wrongdoers to want to sue and blame everyone else but themselves for their own actions.