Disgusting surveillance video from 2015 has surfaced, showing a United Airlines agent in Houston shoving a 71-year-old man to the ground.
I’ll note at the outset that the agent has been fired by United and faced felony charges. Now the passenger, Ronald Tigne, is suing United Airlines. I would too. In a heartbeat.
The automated check-in machines are prone to errors, sometimes issues as simple as being out of ink, that render boarding passes illegible. Something was wrong with Tigre’s boarding pass and he asked an agent for a new one. The agent replied with a laughing snicker, “Can’t you see we are busy?” (though look at the surveillance video below – the agents were not busy).
Tigne was irked and told the agent to “wipe the smile off his face” to which the agent responded, “I’ll kick your…”. Tigne was shoved to the ground.
“No one even went to check his pulse. They literally left him there like a piece of garbage”
Here’s where the story gets even nastier and another clear reason why United is on the hook for what happened. Other United agents just ignored him. The man was left lying on the floor for several minutes! The quote above is from his lawyer. Finally, a good samaritan came over to help and demanded that someone call 911. Tigne was still unconscious…
United stresses that this happened in 2015–
We have seen the video from 2015 that shows completely unacceptable behavior by a United employee. This employee is no longer with our company. The conduct shown here does not reflect our values or our commitment to treat all of our customers with respect and dignity. We are taking a thorough look into what happened here and reaching out to our customer to profusely apologize for what occurred and to make this right.
It irks me that United seems to downplay this by stressing it happened two years ago, but the rest of the statement strikes the right tone.
CONCLUSION
I’m so thankful we live in the age of cell phones and surveillance camera. True, there are downsides, but right before our eyes we have incontrovertible proof of assault and negligence. I wish Tigne all the best as he takes this to a jury. This is disgusting.
(H/T View from the Wing)
Says a lot about the guy that he sues now and not 2 years ago. What a scam.
Are you serious? You think he should have just let this one go? Did you watch the video?
Yes. The guy is a greedy opportunist. He had no problem “letting it go” for 2 years! What changed now? Oh right .. the Dao incident.
Ever heard of “statute of limitations?” Look it up. For a variety of reasons, people may choose to bring their suit at any point within the statute of limitations. Just because someone chooses to file later rather than earlier, doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
Andy K: you’re probably the guy that assaulted the man. That’s the only reason for your idiotic argument.
United makes no mention of the other employees who stood around or ignored the customer’s condition. They should have also been discharged from their jobs if they could not bother to act and to remedy the actions of their co-worker, especially as they were witness to the events that happened.
But if they had tried to help him, they might have been named in a lawsuit as well. Can’t have it both ways!
what??????? that is truly twisted logic on your part. In fact, by helping they would be mitigating the damage down. Further many states have Good Samaritan laws that protect individuals who come to the aid of those in need of emergency care. Your reply doesn’t even justify how helping the victim would result in them being names in the lawsuit. Are you just making up stuff????
@ANDY K – good for him. it’s never too late to point out wrong-doings, can should be repeatedly pointed out so they wont forget.
the more dirt dug up the cleaner carpet will get.
The man who committed the crime faced felony charges. Case closed.
This is a clear money grab by Mr. Tigne who now (like everyone else) thinks it is now hunting season at UA.
not at all. Why he should have sued in 2015, he is still able and should sue now if any negotiations he had with United did not yield a satisfactory response. Also, it is United who needs to address this, not only the employee who knocked him out, but the employees who left him on the ground. You should look up the word scam – this is clearly a major transgression and a United problem for multiple reasons that your opinion is blind to.
dude case never closes, that’s easy for you to say. if you are a family of the victim you will never move on. In this day we are not to celebrate what we (the society) has become but to not forget what people had suffered to get to this point.
@Andy K the criminal case closed, assuming he either got convicted or acquitted.
He can still sue in civil court for damage.
All the employees who stood by and did nothing are liable as well. Appalling on every level.
you’ve used two different spellings for his last name.
I can only imagine what lies in their security tape archives. Even Hollywood can’t make this stuff up. Can’t wait to see the next one that surfaces.