United apologizes to ‘humiliated’ Hall of Famer Terrell Davis after removal from plane
Two-time Super Bowl champion Terrell Davis said Monday he felt “humiliated” after being handcuffed and removed from a United Airlines flight over the weekend.
Davis, who played his entire career with the Denver Broncos, wrote in an Instagram post that he tried to get the attention of a flight attendant because one of his sons wanted a cup of ice cream.
“The flight attendant either did not hear his request or ignored it and continued walking down our row,” wrote Davis, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “I calmly reached behind me and gently tapped his arm to get his attention and ask him again for a cup of ice for my son. His reaction and the events that followed should astound us all.”
At that point, Davis wrote that the guard yelled, “Don’t hit me.”
“I was confused, as were the passengers before me who witnessed the exchange,” Davis continued in his post. “I thought nothing of it, other than that this particular employee was incredibly rude and flat out wrong in his accusations that I had hit him.”
Davis said he didn’t speak to the flight attendant for the rest of the flight and assumed the matter was over. But Davis said that when the flight from Denver to Orange County, California, landed, police boarded the flight, handcuffed Davis without explanation and removed him from the flight.
“I was – and still am – humiliated, ashamed, powerless and angry,” Davis wrote.
Davis said police quickly concluded the flight attendant’s allegations were unfounded and apologized.
United Airlines said in a statement that it had reached out to Davis’ team to apologize and had relieved the flight attendant of her duties while the incident was investigated.
“This is clearly not the type of travel experience we strive for,” the statement said.
An FBI spokesperson said in a statement that agents and law enforcement partners responded to a report of an incident aboard an aircraft at John Wayne Airport in Orange County and detained and subsequently released a cooperative individual.
At the end of his Instagram post, Davis demanded an investigation into the flight attendant “who outright lied and caused unnecessary harm to me and my family.”
Parker Stinar, Davis’ attorney, said in a statement: “We intend to fully investigate the events that occurred and are actively engaging with United Airlines in this matter.”
Davis won two Super Bowls with the Broncos and was one of the NFL’s strongest offensive threats in his early career. In 198, he became part of the small group of players to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season. His later career was hampered by injuries, but he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2017, 10 years after his retirement.