Dr. Dao's Past Has Nothing to Do with What Happened to Him, FFS!

[randome]

21. He wasn't beaten. He was forcibly removed and hit his head on the opposing row of seats.

The hyperbole on DU has been...interesting.

1. "The man was beaten!" The video does not show that, imo. The officers are not making the shoulder movements of officers throwing punches. It shows them trying to pull the man from his seat.

2. "Look at the blood!" Again, the video shows Dr. Dao being pulled from his seat and his head striking the opposing row of seats. That is likely because he lost his grip on the seat and the officer's momentum was too much to stop.

3. "He was tased!" Not a single person on the airplane has said this. It is a DU rumor from start to finish.

4. "United violated their contract!" As mn9Driver points out, 'boarding' covers everything from sitting down in a seat to actual takeoff.

5. "He's a doctor!" So what?

6. "He probably has patients waiting for him!" Another DU rumor.

7. "United should have kept upping the bribe!" That's not how anything works in the real world.

8. "He paid for his ticket!" Pretty much for any contract for any purpose, a business or a customer can stop what they are doing if the transaction is not completed. Obviously the transaction was not complete in this case.

9. "United was giving preference to their employees over passengers!" Yeah. They were. They felt they had no choice due to the thousands of delays and canceled flights in the region. They could and should have had other means for seeing to their shortage.

10. Dr. Dao's odd reaction was a red flag to me. Now it turns out he has mental health issues. https://www.democraticunderground.com/10028921188 Which means, additionally, that the police should have been prepared for this possibility and known how to react. Dao's reaction was not 'normal' so they should have immediately reassessed the situation.

11. The one thing in this entire incident that troubles me and that I have no ability to truly address is this: some of you have pointed out that refusing to obey the orders of a law enforcement official is no different from saying that it's a minority member's fault when he/she is gunned down in the street by a trigger-happy cop.

I am not a member of a minority and I have no explanation (some of you would say 'excuse') to put to this point. This is the one thing that 'haunts' me, for lack of a better word.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]A 90% chance of rain means the same as a 10% chance:
It might rain and it might not.[/center][/font][hr]