Over the weekend, NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Davis reportedly had what looked eerily similar to an incident of traveling while Black when he was handcuffed and removed from a United Airlines flight right in front of his wife and children.
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Terrell told CBS Mornings that the airline put him and his family through a “disgusting display of injustice” that he still hasn’t gotten over, all because a flight attendant mistook a tap on the shoulder for a physical threat, or at least that’s what the former Denver Broncos running back thought prompted the altercation.
According to Davis, it all started Saturday when his 13-year-old son asked for a cup of ice during the family’s flight from Denver to Santa Ana, Calif. When Davis presumed the flight attendant didn’t hear the child, he tapped them on the shoulder, and the ex-NFL star was subsequently accused of hitting the flight attendant.
From CBS:
The flight attendant, Davis said, didn’t hear his son’s request, so Davis, who was sitting in an aisle seat, said he put his hand up to get the flight attendant’s attention. Then, when the flight attendant didn’t see him, Davis said he “lightly tapped” the flight attendant on the shoulder. That’s when Davis said the flight attendant swung around and said, “Don’t hit me.”
Davis said one of the passengers commented on the interaction.
“He turned around and said, ‘You didn’t hit him.’ He said, ‘I saw it. You didn’t hit him.’”
The former NFL running back said he was surprised by the flight attendant’s reaction, but didn’t think much of it until the flight from Denver landed in Orange County, California.
Upon landing, Davis said, everyone was told to remain in their seats. Davis said he thought there could have been a medical emergency, so he remained in his seat reading a magazine until he heard commotion and saw FBI agents in the aisle.
“I see ‘FBI’ on the jacket. I see the green, I think it was the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, and they were walking back toward the plane, and as they get closer to my seat, they come straight to me, and the agent walks up to me, and he leans over and whispers, ‘Don’t fight it,’ and he put the cuffs on me.”
Davis also told his story in a lengthy Instagram post on Monday, adding that the incident left him “humiliated, embarrassed, powerless and angry.”
Davis’ wife, Tamiko Davis—who sat next to their 9-year-old daughter during the flight while Davis sat next to their two sons, the youngest of whom is 11—said she wasn’t aware of the incident with her son’s ice request and the skittish flight attendant who apparently thought a shoulder tap was a prelude to an all-out assault. Tamiko said she had no idea what was going on in the moment the cuffs went on her husband’s wrists and thought someone must have been playing a joke on them.
“This is some cruel practical prank he’s pulling on me,” she said per CBS. “You just have all of these emotions going through.”
“I felt helpless,” she continued. “I remember watching them place handcuffs on Terrell, and seeing my two sons there. As a mom, as a Black mom raising two Black sons, you work really hard to not have your children have those types of experiences. That moment — I can’t protect my children from that.”
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Davis Says The FBI Cleared Him Of Wrongdoing, United Airlines Releases Statement
On Instagram, Davis noted that after some questioning “it was rightfully determined by [FBI] agents that this flight attendant was inaccurate in his accusation.” He also said the agents profusely apologized, even offering to support me and my family in any way possible.”
Still, Davis said but that doesn’t change what the attendant in question put him through.
“The biggest problem for me was the intent of the flight attendant,” he said to CBS. “When you went up there and made that call, your intent was to destroy me. I didn’t do anything to him.”
Davis’ attorney, Parker Stinar, said his client was cleared of any wrongdoing within minutes of interviewing Davis and other passengers, but that’s all the time it took for Davis and his family to have experienced unimaginable embarrassment and completely avoidable trauma.
“The problem is the scars that took place and the trauma that took place are going to impact this family forever,” Stinar said. “Equally as important, we have heard from dozens of other United passengers that have experienced similar conduct, events and sadly, I don’t know why it happened for Mr. Davis, most of those people aren’t handcuffed.”
Meanwhile, United Airlines appeared to acknowledge what happened to Davis and offered the same standard obligatory apology companies always put out there following these incidents. They also noted that the flight attendant had been “removed” pending their investigation.
“This is clearly not the kind of travel experience we strive to provide,” the airline said in statement per NPR. “We have reached out to Mr. Davis’s team to apologize and continue to discuss the issue with them. We have removed the flight attendant from duty while we closely look into this matter and we are reviewing our policies around incidents like this.”
Stinar said he and the family are mulling over the possibility of taking legal action against the airline.