White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that United Airlines had a “troubling” response after a video went viral on Monday showing police officers dragging a passenger from an overbooked flight.
“It was an unfortunate incident, clearly. When you watch the video, it is troubling to see how that was handled,” Spicer said during his daily press briefing.
Spicer said he’s “sure” President Donald Trump has seen the video, which has received widespread coverage across cable networks.
“I don’t think anyone looks at that video and isn’t a little disturbed that another human being is treated that way,” Spicer said. “To watch a human being get dragged down an aisle with their head banging off armrests and not think it could have been handled better, I would assume that we could probably all agree on that.”
Spicer declined to weigh in further and said that stating any official administration stance “would prejudice a potential outcome.”
“I think there is plenty of law enforcement to review a situation like that and I know United Airlines has stated that they are currently reviewing their own policies,” he said. “Let’s not get ahead of where that review goes.”
Video of officers dragging the passenger, David Dao, from a United Airlines flight on Monday sparked uproar which only escalated Tuesday when the Courier-Journal published an article describing Dao as having a “troubled past.”
The Courier-Journal’s article highlighted Dao’s attendance of “medical school in Vietnam” and “convictions on drug-related offenses” in 2004.
Twitter commentators were quick to criticize the Courier-Journal’s juxtaposition of unrelated facts with officers’ treatment of Dao.
you know who also has a troubled past? the chicago police department https://t.co/1q71lNGHc1
— Paul Blest (@pblest) April 11, 2017
Wow, a troubled past? Beating the shit out of him to make sure some United employees didn’t have to rent a car or whatever was good, now https://t.co/tUZkSA3ddy
— Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) April 11, 2017
Who gives the slightest shit? Why are unrelated past facts about this private citizen’s life now newsworthy for digging up and publishing? https://t.co/0lEYvGfYaa
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 11, 2017
Cool. My grandmother shoplifted when she was 20, maybe the Greyhound bus security team can throw her down a flight of stairs. https://t.co/lkjj53oHAG
— Nick Amadeus (@NickAmadeus) April 11, 2017
@courierjournal breaking: i don’t care if he pissed in a jar and rolled it down a hill, you don’t get dragged off a plane like that.
— Chris Boyd?? (@paperghost) April 11, 2017
@courierjournal Damn. Like clockwork. “He was no angel”. What about the past of the dudes that assaulted him or the crew that demanded his seat?
— Rich (@HeightMen) April 11, 2017
@courierjournal As we all know, basic rights are conditional
— Nick Stellini (@StelliniTweets) April 11, 2017
