Terrell Davis said he was banned from traveling on United Airlines for weeks after a flight attendant claimed the former Broncos running back hit him during beverage service.
“Adding insult to injury, United not only had me removed from their flight in handcuffs, but placed me on their No Fly List after it was determined I did nothing wrong and was released,” Davis wrote in a Tuesday morning post on Instagram.
United lifted the ban, which was put in place July 14, on Tuesday morning after Davis released his statement, the ex-Bronco’s attorney, Parker Stinar, said.
In a statement released Tuesday morning, United Airlines confirmed Davis received the letter on July 14 — the day after the incident — but said his flight ban was rescinded a day later.
“It was generated due to the report of the flight attendant — who is no longer employed by United,” airline officials said in the statement.
Stinar said Davis made the original email public due to the lack of response from United.
“Up until today, we had received no correspondence or communication indicating that the travel ban had been rescinded,” Stinar said. “We can confirm we had received no rescinding of this ban until today, just moments ago, and only after Mr. Davis posted his statement.”
Davis was not allowed to fly on United or any of its regional carriers while waiting for a review of the incident from the airline’s Passenger Incident Review Committee, according to an email from United included in Davis’ post.
“As much as we value your business, United’s policy, in compliance with our contract of carriage and our legal obligations as a common carrier, is to delay or refuse to carry any passenger whose conduct or condition threatens the safety of our employees or other passengers,” United officials wrote in the email to Davis.
Davis was traveling with his family to California on a United Airlines flight earlier this month when his son asked for a cup of ice. The attendant didn’t hear him, so Davis said he calmly tapped the United employee on the arm to get his attention.
The flight attendant shouted, “Don’t hit me!” and hurried to the front of the plane, leaving the beverage cart behind, Davis said.
When the plane landed, a group of six FBI agents and sheriff’s deputies walked through the plane, handcuffed Davis in front of his wife and three children and escorted him off the flight, as shown in a video filmed by another passenger.
“My family will never unsee me, nor will I ever forget, being taken off an airplane in handcuffs for simply asking for a cup of ice,” Davis wrote in Tuesday’s post. “We have had to endure difficult conversations with our children about how this has and will continue to affect them.”
Stinar said law enforcement officials conducted interviews with Davis, United staff members and other passengers after escorting Davis off the plane and quickly realized that the allegations were false.
In a letter of representation to United CEO Scott Kirby, Stinar said law enforcement released Davis without “any citation, ticket, warning or arrest.”
“This company not only wrongfully accused me of something I did not do and had me handcuffed and detained, but they have failed on so many levels to demonstrate any genuine empathy for my family’s experience and also at making real changes to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone else,” Davis wrote on Instagram. “I was banned on this airline even after they sent a media-issued statement with a boilerplate ‘apology’.”
In a previous statement, the airline had apologized to Davis and said the flight attendant had been removed from duty while “we closely investigate this matter.”
“This is clearly not the kind of travel experience we strive to provide, and we have reached out to Mr. Davis’s team to apologize,” the airline said in a previous statement.
