Terrell Davis has been banned from traveling with United Airlines 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.
The ex-Broncos player 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 Monday’s post. “We have had to endure difficult conversations with our children about how this has and will continue to affect them.”
Davis’ attorney, Parker 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.
Stinar said they released him without “any citation, ticket, warning or arrest,” according to a letter of representation the attorney wrote to United CEO Scott Kirby.
“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’.”
Davis is not allowed to fly on United or any of its regional carriers pending a review of the incident from the airline’s Passenger Incident Review Committee, according to an email from United included in Davis’ post.
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“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.
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.
Davis has four days to submit his own summary of the incident and witness names and contact information to dispute the ban, according to the airline’s email.
United Airlines did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday morning.
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