The Truth About United’s David Dao Incident Finally Comes Out

Judicial Watch today received documents today from the City of Chicago in response to a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request for records about the removal of United Airlines passenger David Dao on April 9. The records are available here.

Judicial Watch filed a FOIA on April 11, 2017 for:

copies of all records related to the involuntary removal of passenger David Dao from United Flight 3411 (operated by Republic Airlines) on April 9, 2017, including, but not limited to, incident reports, justification memos, communications with United Airlines and Republic Airlines, communications with the Chicago Mayor’s office, communications with the press, and communications with any other third parties.

The City of Chicago provided responsive records through a letter:

1. CDA Accident/Incident Report: this documentation consists of the CDA’s completed Accident/Incident Report, statements from the officers that were involved in the incident, an April 9, 2017 O’Hare Communications Center Display Event printout and the Incident/Passenger(s) Complaint of David Dao.
2. Supplemental Report of Aviation Security Officer James Long dated April 10, 2017
3. Supplementary Report dated April 11, 2017 correcting the date of the Accident/Incident Report from March 9, 2017 to April 9, 2017
4. O’Hare Communications Center Display Event printout from April 10, 2017
5. Event Chronology for ORD Event Number #P170401il 17, 2017 regarding the Use of Force Policy
6. Personnel files for the four Aviation Security personnel that were placed on administrative leave as a result of the incident on the airplane (in four PDF files)725
7. Policy and Procedures Field Manual dated May 2002: Section 1/4.2 on page I-8 addresses the use of force by Aviation Security personnel (in two PDF files)
8. Safety & Security Division Direction 13-03 (Use of Force Policy) dated March 1, 2013
9. Memo from Aviation Security Deputy Commissioner dated Apr
10. Four video files regarding the incident and the response thereafter
11. Two audio files regarding the incident and the response thereafter

The City also released a hospitalization case report concerning Mr. Dao.

“Judicial Watch recognizes the broad public interest in the removal of Mr. Dao from the United Airlines flight,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These records provide a dramatically different account of the incident than seen on the infamous video.” {eoa}