Video shows guards dragging passenger off United flight

The (Louisville) Courier-Journal reports a United representative confirmed Sunday night that a person was removed from Flight 3411 to Louisville, Kentucky, saying it was “overbooked.”

Passenger Audra D. Bridges posted the video on Facebook. It shows the guards grabbing then dragging the passenger down the aisle. Screaming is heard and other passengers say “Oh my God” and “Look at what you did to him.”

United said airline representatives chose four passengers at random when no volunteers agreed to leave the overbooked flight. They requested law enforcement assistance when one of them refused to leave.

Bridges says United asked for four passengers to relinquish their seats for airline employees on stand-by.

A United Airlines spokesman says airline employees were “following the right procedures’’.

Charles Hobart says the employees were justified in calling law enforcement Sunday night to remove the man because the flight was overbooked and couldn’t leave with too many passengers on board.

He said in an email that United employees had asked for volunteers and when none were forthcoming, four were selected to leave.

Hobart says the man was removed by Chicago police but the police department says its officers were not involved. Officer Jose Estrada says the incident was handled by the city’s aviation department police force.

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