A few days ago a passenger was forcibly dragged off a plane run by United Airlines. His name was David Dao. The following facts of what transpired seem to be agreed upon by most everybody.

On April 9, 2017, Dao boarded UA flight #3411 at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. Before the plane took off, he and three other passengers were asked to give up their seats because the plane was overbooked. While the other three passengers deplaned without much of a fuss, Dao refused to do so. He said he was a medical doctor and he had a patient to attend to the next day at the destination city of Louisville, Kentucky.

The airline called aviation security and had him removed, literally pulling him off the seat like a stubborn fugitive criminal. In the process, his nose was broken with blood visibly running down his face.

The above seems to be undisputed because it was video-taped by a few passengers on the plane and their recordings corroborated with each other.

The outrageous conduct by United Airlines and the security agents caused an instant uproar on the internet, in this country, and around the world, especially in China and Vietnam. The images went viral within a few hours. To add salt to insult on Mr. Dao, United later acknowledged that the plane was not over-booked, but they had to make room for four airline workers so they could fly to work somewhere.

I saw some of the clips on the news and I thought the treatment Dao received as a paying customer was way beyond human decency, never mind business courtesy. Within a day or two, he hired a law firm to represent him to sue United for damages. I am personally glad he did.

The media had a field day too. Instead of the “routine,” what-else-is-new soap oozing out of the White House, they finally found something different to report to attract readers and viewers. To spice up the story a bit, the following unrelated, unproven or sometimes conflicting ingredients were added:

1. Dao had two front teeth knocked off in the scuffle. He also suffered a concussion and lost consciousness briefly because of that. (We may find out whether those injuries happened in his legal complaint later. If they did happen, I am sure he will allege them in his lawsuit.)

2. Dao was a doctor who had his license suspended or revoked for “convicted” felonies including illegal prescriptions of drugs, and solicitation for sex from a patient. Some reports said that he was acquitted of those charges and his practice was re-instated many years later. Other reports said that his license was reinstated with restrictions – i.e., he could only practice one day a week. (We may or may not find out about these “facts” in the forth-coming trial.)

3. Dao was a very good poker gambler who had won six figures in competitions. (We may never find out the veracity of this detail as it has nothing to do with his injury on the plane.)

4. Dao was a refugee from Vietnam. (He may be as I heard his Vietnamese accent from the videos.)

5. Dao was or is Chinese. (If he is an immigrant from Vietnam, I doubt if he ever was a Chinese national. His ancestors might be.)

6. His wife is a doctor. They have five children, four of whom are also doctors. (Again, the public may never find out the truth to this statement, as it is totally irrelevant to his injuries.)

The widely circulated personal details about Dao make great gossip about this “colorful” victim. As doubtful as I am, I am retelling them now. At least I warn you they may be non-facts. But do they need to be regurgitated over and over again by newspapers and TV stations as though they were true? Some newspapers were quoting other newspapers as “sources.” So A is quoting B, and C is quoting A and B, and D is ….

In the legal field, there is a term called “hearsay” when information is heard and repeated by the listener, without regard to how true or untrue the original statement was. Tabloids love it because it helps sales. Some readers and viewers love it because it “humanizes” the victim – and it breaks the daily boredom of life at the victim’s expense.
Who and what are you going to believe these days?
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PS. On April 27th, it was reported that a settlement was reached between Mr. Dao and United. Because it was an out-of-court settlement, the public may never know what the details are.

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