Yet ANOTHER person violently dragged off a plane
Yesterday a woman was violently dragged off of a plane heading to Los Angeles because of, what she claimed, was a deadly life threatening allergy to dogs. The story is, however, a little bit more complicated than it would seem from the surface.
Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock and literally have no concept of what’s going on in the world, you know that a lot of people are being dragged off airplanes lately. The most prominent was of course Dr. Dao who was dragged off of a United Airlines flight for not wanting to give up his seat to some United Airlines employees. The backlash was huge, both on the NY Stock Exchange and with its customers.
Oops
Southwest Airlines
This time it wasn’t United Airlines, it was Southwest who is finding themselves in hot water. The difference? This time I’m inclined to side with the airline; Not necessarily the police officers, but the airline. Read on and at the end, make up your mind and tell us what you think.
Just before takeoff, the passenger in question, Anila Daulatzai, informed the flight attendants that she wanted the two dogs that had boarded to be removed from the flight. The reason? According to her, she was “deathly allergic” to dogs.
(side note here everyone… telling a flight attendant that you might DIE on board their flight is a sure fire way to get your ass kicked off the flight STAT… but I digress)
When asked if she had documentation from her doctor stating that it would be OK for her to fly, she wasn’t able to provide the medical certificate necessary to continue with the flight. Reports then say that she demanded an EpiPen in order to continue. Sorry Anila, if you are really THAT allergic, then you should have your own EpiPen.
The Result
Since she couldn’t provide the needed documentation to continue, she was informed that she would need to deplane. As you can imagine, this is where things went sour. According to reports, they tried to negotiate with her for quite some time before calling the Maryland police. Once she realized she was about to get kicked off, she then tried to negotiate to stay on board… BUT… remember that part where she said she MIGHT DIE?
According to Southwest:
“Our policy states that a Customer (without a medical certificate) may be denied boarding if they report a life-threatening allergic reaction and cannot travel safely with an animal on board,”
Exactly. You told someone that you might cause a danger to yourself and other passengers, which means, buh-bye. I am 100% percent behind Southwest Airlines on this one.
Police Aggression?
In the video, you can see that the officers forcibly tried to remove her from the plane but she resisted. She stopped once asking to pull up her pants. Officers complied, and then she stood in the chair complaining that they were torn. The officers asked her to leave, she didn’t, so they attempted to remove her once again.
She then pleaded with the police to “get their hands off of her” and let her walk off the plane. After a couple tries, the officer lets her go, and she STILL REFUSES to walk off the plane. The officer on multiple attempts tried to allow her to cooperate, but in the end she stubbornly refused and was removed.
While the video only shows a portion of the incident, I’ll let you watch it and decide what you think happened and/or should have happened.
Woman dragged off #Southwest flight from #Baltimore to #LosAngeles. Complained of allergy to animal on board. Didn’t have card for allergy. pic.twitter.com/vCTzDhMkiH
— Chris Stewart (@CStewartWPTV) September 27, 2017
Charges were filed
Maryland transit police said that she was charged with disorderly conduct, failure to obey a reasonable and lawful order, disturbing the peace, obstructing and hindering a police officer and resisting arrest.
While under no circumstances do I condone police brutality nor overreach of police powers, when an officer not only asks you to leave, you disobey, then he gives you TWO MORE CHANCES and each time you continue to be stubborn, then there really isn’t much choice left.
Meanwhile in other parts of the USA, this is what Southwest would like your normal flight delay to look like:
@SouthwestAir y’all need to give these #NOLA employees raises! Turned my #delayedflight to an #epic party #Southwest #NewOrleans #Amazing pic.twitter.com/fb1YhQjk5O
— Marina Fahmy (@MarinaFahmy617) September 25, 2017
September 29, 2017
I do believe in this case, they were justified. She was given the chance prior to the officers coming on board. She chose just to stay and complain, and seeing Southwest’s rules state that she would have to leave the plane if she stated her life was in danger due to an allergy. I think the officers were within their rights, they gave her every chance to walk out on her own and she didn’t take it. I am glad that they have file charges against her. I’m sure she will file her own charges, but I don’t think she should win this one.
September 30, 2017
Quit being naive. If you disregard a reasonable order by a police officer they have no choice but to use physical force to restrain or arrest a person.
October 1, 2017
How has anyone not received the memo that this is a bad idea? Major negative press, delayed flight, and upset passengers equals major lawsuit.
October 6, 2017
So far most of the people violently dragged off planes are batsh*t crazy … that’s very clear in their actions toward police and flight crew. Flying on a plane is not a right it’s a privilege. The above person is race baiter this is now clear with a very quick lawsuit ….. saying she was racially picked to be kicked off the plane ….