NFL Legend Kicked Off Plane After He Says He Made a Harmless Request
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
In his playing days, Terrell Davis was a key cog of the Denver Broncos, plowing his way into the end zone 60 times on the ground.
In his retirement? Davis — now a sports pundit on television — is plowing his way headfirst into a very public fight with United Airlines.
According to the former NFL star, this ugly ordeal started over a simple request for a cup of ice.
On July 15, Davis shared his side of a story that he called a “humiliating, disturbing and traumatizing incident in front of our children.”
“I am still in shock over the traumatizing events that occurred Saturday aboard a United flight from Denver to Orange Country with my wife, two sons, and daughter,” he wrote in an Instagram post.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer then set the scene: During the drink service portion of the flight, he said, his son requested a cup of ice.
“The flight attendant either didn’t hear or ignored his request and continued past our row,” Davis wrote. “I calmly reached behind me and lightly tapped his arm to get his attention to again ask for a cup of ice for my son.
“His response and the events that followed should stun all of us.”
The two-time Super Bowl champion wrote that the male flight attendant “shouted” at him, yelling “don’t hit me.”
That interaction would be annoying enough on its own (Davis said he and other people on the flight who saw the exchange were “confused” by the flight attendant’s response), but what happened next would be terrifying for anyone in any circumstance.
“As we landed in Orange County, the pilot asked all passengers to remain seated, six FBI and law enforcement agents boarded the plane,” Davis wrote.
He said he was “immediately” placed in handcuffs — “without any explanation” — and forcibly removed from the plane. Davis said other passengers were filming him as he was “paraded off of the plane in handcuffs by the officers.”
“I was — and remain — humiliated, embarrassed, powerless, and angry,” the NFL legend said.
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According to Davis’ Instagram post, he was largely exonerated during questioning and the arresting agents “profusely apologized” for the ordeal.
However, he said United had yet to reach out to him — something the airline denied in a statement to KCNC-TV in Denver.
“This is clearly not the kind of travel experience we strive to provide, and we have reached out to Mr. Davis’s team to apologize,” United said. “We have removed the flight attendant from duty while we closely review this matter.”
In a post to Instagram, the law firm Stinar Gould Grieco & Hensley said it was representing Davis and that litigation was on the table.
The firm called out the airline’s actions.
“Your response — a quick, non-personal apology and ‘removing from duty’ of the flight attendant — does not right this wrong,” the post said.
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