United reaches settlement with passenger dragged off overbooked plane

Protesters against United Airlines.
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

David Dao, the 69-year-old doctor who was dragged off an overbooked United flight earlier this month to the horror of his fellow passengers, has settled with the airline for an undisclosed amount of money.

His attorney, Thomas Demetrio, said that under the settlement, the sum must remain confidential. His client was on a packed flight to Louisville from Chicago on April 9 when he was chosen at random to give up his seat to a crew member who needed to get to Kentucky to work on another flight; Dao refused, and authorities were called. They forcibly removed him from the flight, with other passengers recording the incident, sparking a major public relations disaster for United once the video went viral. Dao's attorneys have said he suffered a broken nose and concussion and lost two teeth.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.