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.
Pro Football Hall of Famer @Terrell_Davis says he was handcuffed and removed from a United Airlines flight in front of his family over the weekend without explanation. He says he felt powerless and embarrassed.
Davis, his wife and his lawyer told @GayleKing about the incident. pic.twitter.com/EpmY0GQzSe— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) July 17, 2024
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.”
