NFL Legend Terrell Davis was escorted off a United Airlines flight in handcuffs after a flight attendant accused him of “hitting” him. Davis–and other witnesses onboard–deny the charge and Davis claims he has already received an apology from United.
NFL Legend Terrell Davis Arrested After Flight Attendant Interaction On United Airlines
Davis and his family were traveling from Denver (DEN) to Orange Country, California (SNA) on United Airlines on Saturday, July 13, 2024. During the beverage service, he asked a flight attendant for a cup of ice for his son.
The flight attendant did not respond, moving past their row.
Davis turned and purportedly tapped the flight attendant on his arm to try to get his attention.
But the flight attendant “snapped” and yelled out, “Don’t hit me!”
The flight attendant quickly bolted down the aisle toward the front of the plane. Davis did not see him again for the remainder of the flight.
But when the plane arrived at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, “The pilot asked all passengers to remain seated” and six law enforcement officials boarded the aircraft. Davis was immediately placed in handcuffs and led off the aircraft.
Shortly thereafter, Davis was “cleared of any wrongdoing,” noting “the agents profusely apologized” and offered “to support me and my family in any way possible.”
Here’s his account, posted to Instagram:
He has now obtained an attorney to help him process this matter.
Davis played in the NFL 1995 to 2001, won two Super Bowls, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.
CONCLUSION
NFL star Terrell Davis was removed from a United Airlines flight after a flight attendant accused him of hitting him. He was not arrested and was quickly released with an apology.
I’d love to hear the flight attendant’s side, but based on the witnesses onboard it sounds like it was a major flight attendant overreaction to an innocuous tap. It’s still best to avoid physical contact with ANY flight attendant…but a light tap should be expected and not seen as anything offensive.
image: @therealterrelldavis / Instagram
Geez…. guess I should have called for CDA police at ORD a few days ago when attempting to get through the crowd into the Group 1 lane a woman grabbed my arm hard and asked me where I was going. But wait, if it’s a passenger, the airline doesn’t care.
I hope United makes this right.
@Neds … +1 . I am a target for Karens and Kevins because I cannot walk , and I use a shopping cart to hold myself up and for balance .
If I DO NOI bump an auto in the parking lot , Kevin will rage that I hit their AUTO , and demand $50 .
If I DO bump a Karen’s Cart in the shop , the Karen will rage that I Hit Her CART .
Regarding your post , I’ve experienced females grabbing me many times , and it was all good .
In one statement, Terrell Davis said he says he is “humiliated, embarrassed, powerless, and angry.”
So say we all Terrell when it comes to any of the airlines!!!
I’d like to belive something will improve based on his experience, but as the wise minds at SNL like to say… “Ain’t nuthin gonna happen!”
While TD doesn’t have the best record in terms of demeanor out there, I see events like this happen a lot while flying where passengers are ignored by FAs or are even picked on because the FAs were having a bad day.
This reminds me of one of the bigger incidents that I mention every now and then on DL159 where the FAs in J started to pick on an asian elderly lady and her daughter. The elderly lady was recovering from surgery on her shoulder and her daughter was trying her best to help accommodate her while not bothering anyone. But, for no reason, the FAs became increasingly rude to them as the flight progressed to the point they said “if you want proper service, then fly Korean Air not us. Do you think that this is Korean Air?” to their faces and stopped serving them. I tried to intervene and help them, but I would also get told not to intervene and eventually got shunned by them along with other people who tried standing up for them.
At the end of the day, there are FAs out there that are just going to power trip and be nasty to the same degree that there are Karen customers.
What he did on the football field as an adrenaline filled 27 year old athlete has very little bearing on how he acts as a 50 year old man on a plane with his family.
What is it with these FA’s continuing to treat black customers like they are all criminals ready to assault them at every turn? Don’t they know just because they are Democrats it doesn’t mean they have to honor the party that created the KKK by following their beliefs?
Where the KKKlan had KKKlout, most of those Southern Democrats ended up flipping over to Republican Party affiliation where the KKKlan had KKKlout. There were some exemptions — for example, former KKK member and Southern Democrat Senator Byrd of West Virginia remained a Democrat and turned out to become a rather reliable ally of the Black Caucus in Congress after apologizing for the errors of his past when he needed the KKKlan members’ business as a butcher or something and initially their votes.
Why can’t y’all (Chi Hsuan, Dave, GUWonder, Stuart, Aaron and others) leave politics outta this? You all are tryna claim what’s best for black people when you aren’t even black. And if any black person speaks out against you, they’re suddenly not black and especially Aaron is good this. It’s a travel blog comment section, not r/whitepeopletwitter. I jus want some civil comments about travel stories.
Ending up in handcuffs over lightly touching an FA to get the FA’s attention to nicely ask for some ice? That really puts the over in overreaction. The flight attendant should consider a new, more appropriate job if the flight attendant can’t help himself.
I personally try to avoid touching anyone to get their attention, and not only because you never know how they will react. I actually wish flight attendants would be less touchy towards me, but that is primarily because when they touch me it’s usually going to be something that makes things less comfortable for me: like waking me up for their own convenience or that of a passenger behind me or to otherwise talk to me.
“The flight attendant quickly bolted down the aisle toward the flight of the plane.“
Do you mean front of the plane?
While I’d disagree with your anointment of Davis as a legend there’s little question that the FA screwed up big time. I’m surprised that United didn’t get in touch with Davis immediately rather than wait for Davis to retain legal counsel and go public.
Since when is a NFL Hall of Famer, two-time Superbowl champion (1 SB MVP award) and former league MVP not considered a NFL legend?
The CEO of United continuously brags that he has seen, heard, and felt the transformation of United into a customer focused airline. Did someone miss the single seminar? He should spend less time speaking nonsense and more time guiding his employees on how to treat the customers.
Wake Up United.
I am sick of the FA these days. I fly globally for my company. While there are certainly fantastic FA there seems to be more and more of these types these days. If they are having a bad day and are flying it seems best not to interact with them because the first thing they want to do is to report you to the captain and have you removed from the plane. Simply but. POWER TRIP
Why touch the flight attendant at all?
My late mother 20 years ago, with a smile, tapped one of the employees at the ORD Starbucks by the dinosaur skeleton in concourse B on the top of her shoulder because she hadn’t heard her. It was about an extra napkin or something. A minute later my dad and I observed from 20 feet away how that employee demonstrated and re-enacted pantomime-like to her co-workers behind the bar how my mother had tapped her on the shoulder, with her index finger coming down from above. It was a mixture of humor and astonishment but not outrage, we thought at the time. 20 years later, I should be happy that my then 70 year old mom was not handcuffed and arrested that day.
Good thing she was not sent to Guantanamo Bay!
Attendant call button works nicely and doesn’t mind being touched. Hands off other people, anywhere, even Walmart!