Doctor pulled from United Airlines flight previously convicted of drug crimes

[brooklynite]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by DonViejo (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: New York Daily News

Doctor pulled from United Airlines flight previously convicted of drug crimes, stripped of medical license

The Kentucky doctor ripped from his United Airlines seat — causing a national uproar — has a checkered past with the law.

David Dao — the Elizabethtown, Ky., doctor identified as the victim in the viral video — was previously convicted for drug-related crimes that saw him fork over his medical license for a decade, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports.

The beleaguered doctor was first arrested 14 years ago as part of an undercover investigation, the newspaper reported.

Dao — who was educated in Vietnam and later moved to the U.S. — along with an accomplice were picked up in July 2003 at a motel, charged with obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or forgery as well as dispensing and prescribing a controlled substance.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/doc-pulled-united-flight-previously-convicted-drug-crimes-article-1.3043210

[chia]

1. Victim blaming.

That is all.

[lark]

13. Exactly!

This kind of thing really pisses me off. WTF does that have to do with United overbooking, then dragging an unwilling passenger off the plane, after badly bloodying his nose? This actually makes me hate United even more than the Chairman telling his folks they did the right thing and he stands behind them. Can they go any lower?

[Pachamama]

62. This just makes me even angrier at United

If they think this tactic will help them, it won't....it will fail and just make people like me take their business elsewhere. And believe me, they will care - there are people like me who are million mile fliers and a 1K with United who can and will take their business elsewhere. I called today and complained. I pointed out to the nice customer service person on phone (who I acknowledged multiple times is doing her job) but asked her to pass the message on to corporate that she has 1K million mile fliers like me who are outraged and who will make decisions with our wallets to go elsewhere. They have my account before their eyes - they know that I fly over 100K every year with them and spend over $12,000 with them (that's United dollars, excluding taxes etc) what they call PQD's (Premier Qualifying Dollars) and I said that for the 8 plus RT flights I do annually internationally (often in Business Class) I will now take that business to their international airline partners (Lufthansa, SAS, Air Canada etc) and fly with them benefiting from my status of star alliance gold and 1K, but sitting on their planes, not United.

She thanked me but said nothing.... I am sure I wasn't her first call...

[Delphinus]

68. Me too!

[LittleGirl]

18. It doesn't matter

what happened 14 yrs ago, what matters is what happened this weekend. I hate these stories.
thanks for pointing it out.

[cstanleytech]

64. That's like saying what Trump said about what he did with and to women doesn't matter since it

happened years ago but it all matters in the end and in this case while it isn't material to United's decision in choosing him (since I doubt they knew about it) it could be matieral for his reaction especially if in his mind he was feeling persecuted due to the prior arrest and losing his license and that's sad.
If that is part of why he reacted that way hopefully he will seek professional help.

[LittleGirl]

67. Please don't compare #45's history

with this incident. Not even in the same parameters.

[catsudon]

71. well, from my experience

he has to be a trump voter to more people here to jump on him.

[lsewpershad]

43. Exactly.

So that suppose to justify corporate brutality?

[Warpy]

79. Yeah, this is entirely too predictable

I don't care if he shot up in the plane bathroom, he didn't deserve what was done to him in the name of corporate convenience.

Trust me, if he got his license back, he's taking pee tests to keep it and the medical board is keeping a close eye on him.

It explains why he had a cheap seat in cattle class rather than being up with the first class people.

[Vinca]

2. This has nothing to do with what happened to him and it pisses me off that somehow

the victim is now being portrayed as the guilty party. I hope he sues the airline into oblivion.

[sarisataka]

3. Oh. Well in that case beat him again

His past had nothing whatsoever to do with what happened on the airplane.

[adigal]

69. Yes, I agree. And since I think they tasered him, they should do it again. On super high taser power

He deserved it all. How dare he even fly??? /snark

[jehop61]

4. And this is news

because? What does any past misconduct have to do with this incident? I personally wouldn't spread United Airlines propaganda.

[Paladin]

5. And this impacts and/or excuses United's brutal "de-planing" actions----how? (nt)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. And this is relevant to his mistreatment by the airline

and the airport police... exactly how? Nobody deserves to be treated like he was just for declining to give up a seat on an airplane. I wouldn't care if it was fucking John Gotti being dragged off that airplane. How are someone's past legal issues relevant in the least? How do they retroactively excuse current mistreatment? It almost reminds me of how, when some unarmed person (most often a black guy) gets shot by police, there's a big hurry to find out whether he had a criminal record, even if he wasn't doing a damn thing wrong when he got shot. I don't have a criminal record, but if I ever get hauled off a plane and beaten up they'll report that I had some overdue library books and once got a complaint that I'd let my shrubs grow too close to the alley.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. That is irrelevant, even if it's true.

Stay with the issue. A passenger paid for his ticket. He boarded and was not a problem to fellow passengers and the crew. He didn't volunteer to leave. Without breaking the law or an airplane regulation, he was violently removed from his seat, dragged through the aisle, and publicly humiliated as well as physically injured.

[truthisfreedom]

8. Oh, that will save United for sure!

Whew!

[Botany]

9. Trying to change the subject

Boycott United United

[Chipper Chat]

10. He is being "michaelbrowned"

[dalton99a]

65. Exactly - and some DUers are helping to catapult the propaganda

[Eliot Rosewater]

11. This victim blaming is what the elite will resort to when their privilege is

threatened.

[obamanut2012]

12. who fucking cares

united dropping oppo research to media

[WhiteTara]

14. What the f*ck does that have to do with tazing

using bodily harm to remove him from a flight that he paid for and was entitled to got to do with this? Looks like a smear campaign in action. I hope United's stock falls 50 points today.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

15. And Trayvon Martin got suspended from school. And Freddie Gray had a prior criminal record.

And so did Eric Garner.

And so did Walter Scott.

And so did who the hell cares.

[yallerdawg]

16. One comment on this process:

Link to tweet

[DallasNE]

30. Person Of Color

That is the missing part of this story. At least Joy Reid sees through it. Racism is alive and well in America.

[Croney]

17. I can just hear the crazies now.

"Oh, so they had good reason to choose him, he was probably wanted by the law and they pretended to need his seat just to get him off the plane." I hope he ends up owning what's left of United.

If I'm ever bumped after buckling in, I'm not sure I would go meekly into that jetway without railing at the universe with raised fist.

[John1956PA]

27. +1,000

I like your phrase "bumped after buckling in." There should be federal law banning such a practice by the airlines.

[eissa]

19. Let the smearing begin

Because we can't have corporations being held accountable for beating paying customers.

[harun]

25. +1

[alarimer]

20. That makes the treatment of him okay, then?

I'm not sure why this is relevant. Not a criticism of the OP, but of the journalists who seem to think this matters more than the actually jack-booted thugs that hauled him off and beat the daylights out of him.

[still_one]

21. What does that have to do with being dragged off the airplane?

[cvoogt]

22. United is beleaguered.

Not this doctor.

[rusty fender]

23. He is 69 years-old FFS!

The kind of physical abuse the airline did to him could have killed him

[harun]

24. Despicable. Why not report news? This is not news.

[malthaussen]

32. Um, it's the Daily News.

Not exactly a citadel of responsible journalism. That is in answer to your "why," and not an excuse for them.

-- Mal

[pnwmom]

37. The Daily News won a Pulitzer in public interest reporting yesterday. But I agree,

this is not a high moment for them.

[CanonRay]

26. Who gives a shit.

[Sanity Claws]

28. This is not news

This is United trying to change the discussion and blame the victim.

Fuck United.

[busterbrown]

29. Thanks guys for putting me straight.

My immediate response was that... Well, here goes that story.. much ado about nothing because of his checkered pass.
United gets away with bullshit crap again...

From responses here... No way!

[RedWedge]

31. Airline involved in passanger assault has troubled past, ties to 9/11.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

57. +1

[beachbum bob]

33. distraction....not relevant to his treatment as a paying United airline customer

[DK504]

34. And what the fuck does that have to do with the Assault and Battery charges that need to be filed?

[catbyte]

35. Ah, smear the victim. Typical corporate sleaze tactic. Good luck with that, United.

[pnwmom]

36. So now United has basically ruined his life, exposing him to the world. Good going, United.

[Doreen]

38. Sooo, our current administration is allowed to have a criminal record and not get into trouble

but not anyone else ( particularly if you are not white male. ) It sounds to me like he already payed his dues for being arrested or got released by the courts. I truly think this just goes down to racism.

[kag]

39. This pisses me off almost as much as what United did to him!

Good God!!! What the fuck is wrong with people!????? I guess we must all live in fear that we never get brutally treated by United or some other Corporation, because all of our past mistakes will be dredged up and thrown on the front page of the tabloids (and yes, I do consider the NYDN a tabloid).

[pnwmom]

46. And for all we know United leaked this info to the Daily News. n/t

[Raster]

76. I would NOT be surprised...

...you've got to do something to try and take the attention away from dragging a paying passenger off the plane....

...and a missile strike in Syria is already taken.

[BigDemVoter]

40. It does NOT matter.

I don't care if he murdered somebody. He was lawfully on that plane and had paid for a ticket. NOBODY deserves to be treated like that.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

41. So what?

So fucking what?

[The_Casual_Observer]

42. Wow, I guess when they tell you to get off the plane you had better obey lest the press humiliate

you by doing a Nexus Lexus on your ass.

[Bradical79]

44. I really don't care.

Has nothing to do with anything that happened with the airline.

[athena]

45. So what!

As I posted on another thread, this is a mistake any thinking and feeling human being might have made. It's not like the guy is a drug dealer. What he did was not right, and it's good he was disciplined for it, but it's a human mistake. Imagine you're a doctor and have a patient who is addicted to painkillers. They come to you and beg for one more bottle, explaining that they're going through a tough time and promising that this will be their last bottle. Otherwise they can't deal with things and they will throw themselves off a bridge. It's easy to slide into illegal behavior through a situation like this. $174 for a bottle of painkillers is not a huge amount of money; it's probably what the bottle cost Dr. Dao.

In fact, the type of person who would be so moved by a patient's misery that he would illegally supply him with painkillers is precisely the kind of person who would feel so much obligation to the patients he has to see the next morning that he would refuse to get off an airplane when asked to do so. This is someone who feels empathy and compassion to a larger degree than the average. Given different opportunities, he might have been an artist or a poet rather than a physician. Are we going to throw him off a cliff because he does not display the level of heartlessness and sociopathy that we admire so much these days in our leaders and idols?

Life is hard. People get depressed. They get addicted to drugs. They get angry and yell inappropriately. They lie on immigration documents to be able to be near and support their loved ones. We all do our best to make the best of the cards we've been dealt. No one is perfect. If being treated fairly requires perfection, then no one can possibly demand fairness.

This is a sick country, and it will not change until we decide that a lack of empathy for one's fellow beings is despicable and shameful. It is not Dr. Dao who should feel ashamed here; it is all of those people who have been proudly displaying their total and utter lack of empathy for the indignity and physical abuse that a fellow human being has been subjected to. Anyone who responds with so little empathy is not a human being in the full sense of the word.

[hoovjim78]

47. Totally irrelevant

This information is totally irrelevant. The issue is the allowed tyranny of corporations, in this case UA. The fact that their agenda and their profit plan takes precedence over their clients / customers is unconscionable. Such practices for all corporations run roughshod over Americans and we have allowed it by electing miscreant politicians to enforce their oppressive behavior in so many ways.

[Hekate]

48. And this has what, exactly, to do with how a paying passenger was brutalized by hired thugs?

Screw them.

[6000eliot]

49. This strategy should do United a lot of good.

[msongs]

50. and how is this LBN? nt

[C_U_L8R]

51. Shame on you, United

Stop punching this poor man in the face, you fucks.
Just stop it.

[Bleacher Creature]

52. Nobody deserves to be treated like that. Period.

I'm not sure why this is even remotely relevant.

[dalton99a]

66. Yep. I don't care if he's a doctor or a garbage collector.

[TheDebbieDee]

53. Oh! Here we go! He was a convicted criminal...

So he DESERVED to be dragged off that plane and treated like a criminal! Even though the people dragging him off the plane couldn't have known about his drug convictions at the time!

[mainer]

54. Trapped in an "undercover" operation.

That says a lot right there. An informant reeled him in.

Also, the headline implies he doesn't have a medical license. He does. He's been back working as a doctor since 2015.

[heaven05]

55. I understand why they did this

HE IS a person of color.... It may be true that he has made mistakes, I don't know the whole story, but their response leaves me troubled and NOT surprised. Typical in cases like this from Trayvon Martin(he had smoked marijuana, allegedly) all the way to this victim of draconian ameriKKKan methods always used in gaining obedience from POC.....sad. This didn't even need to get mentioned here, I think.

[Lithos]

56. If he wasn't dressed so provocatively, he wouldn't have had this happen

He made these people treat him like dirt.

I hate victim blaming. Yes, the guy probably has issues and is not the best, still does not relieve United of their gross abuse of power and responsibility.

L-

[athena]

59. Right. He should have been dressed in an Armani suit,

wearing a Rolex watch and an expensive brand of glasses. Then, he would have been treated with respect, and people would have believed him when he said he was a doctor. It's his fault he was physically assaulted.

[janlyn]

58. WTF all,

does this have to do with what United did? I guarantee if this was a white person this wouldn't even be a topic for discussion! Once again i am also seeing the "well he shouldn't have struggled" comments on social sites!!

[ret5hd]

60. Proud of your rich self?

[YOHABLO]

61. I don't care about this guys past, the airlines handling of this whole situation was wrong.

[whistler162]

63. In that case why wasn't he tazed?

YES THIS IS SARCASM!!!!!

[Spider Jerusalem]

70. So? Irrelevant. Also not news.

[meadowlander]

72. Pre-emptive jury tampering.

I hope the judge doubles the settlement figure for pulling this shit.

[Fast Walker 52]

73. this is the same exact shit they pull if a black kid was killed by the police for no good reason

[Bengus81]

74. 14 years ago?? About the same time Pillboy was having his OXY bought out of a car trunk? n/t

[onetexan]

75. THIS THREAD NEEDS TO BE LOCKED/DELETED

This is victim blaming.

[UpInArms]

77. So?

What has that to do with this?

[Raster]

78. WHY WOULD THIS BE RELEVANT?

[Voltaire2]

80. Oh so I guess he forfeited his right to simple human dignity

because he did something wrong in the past?

Seriously?

[DonViejo]

81. Locking...

A consensus of Forum Hosts agrees this is not LBN and encourages you to post your OP in the General Discussions Forum.