（中央社芝加哥13日綜合外電報導）聯合航空將亞裔醫師陶大衛拖下飛機，粗暴見血場面傳遍國際引發公憤，律師今天說，陶大衛有顯著腦震盪，鼻子受傷，還斷了兩顆門牙，可能控告「一直霸凌我們的」聯航討公道。
據有線電視新聞網（CNN）和美聯社報導，律師狄米崔歐（Thomas Demetrio）在芝加哥的記者會表示，他將會代表陶大衛（David Dao，譯音）提告。
路透社報導，他說：「長久以來，航空公司一直霸凌我們，聯合航空尤其如此。」他又說：「是否會提出告訴呢？是的，有可能。」
狄米崔歐強調，根據法律規定，不得以不合理的力量將乘客趕下飛機。聯合航空卻強拖陶大衛下機，導致他在過程中遭到顯著腦震盪，鼻子受傷，還斷了兩顆門牙，將必須接受重建手術。
69歲的陶大衛是越南裔美籍醫師，他搭上聯合航空9日由芝加哥歐海爾國際機場（O’Hare International Airport）起飛的班機，預備前往肯塔基州路易斯市（Louisville），但公司為了替機組人員騰出座位，派出航警將他拖下飛機。
陶大衛的女兒克麗絲托（Crystal Dao Pepper）在記者會表示，全家都因父親遭遇的事件而感到「恐懼，震驚和厭惡」。她說，陶大衛是個「很棒的父親」，也是個「慈愛的祖父」。
狄米崔歐說，陶大衛告訴他，這次被拖過飛機走道趕下機的事件，比起他1970年代在越南老家體驗過的逃難經歷更駭人。他又說，目前聯合航空方面一點表示都沒有。
Lawyers for the man forcibly removed from a United Airlines flight last week in Chicago spoke today in front of television cameras for the first time since the incident.
Speaking in Chicago on Thursday, personal injury lawyer Tom Demetrio said he and another lawyer, Stephen Golan, would be legally representing the family of David Dao, the man who boarded a flight to Louisville, Ky., last Sunday evening before the airline called in Chicago Department of Aviation security officers to forcibly remove him from the flight so that airline employees could travel in his place.
The 69-year-old Dao suffered multiple injuries as a result of his violent, videotaped ejection, and was in hospital until Wednesday evening.
“Will there be a lawsuit?” Demetrio asked, rhetorically. “Yeah, probably,” he said, before later adding that they are not ready to sue yet, as they have not completed their legal due diligence.
Demetrio, who counts personal injury lawsuits related to air travel among his specialities, has negotiated well over $1 billion US in settlements over a 40-year career, including numerous record-setting personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits.
According to his website, he has never lost an appeal.
In addition to his lawyers, one of Dao’s daughters, 33-year-old Crystal Pepper, also spoke.
“What happened to my dad shouldn’t have happened to any human in that circumstance,” she said, thanking the public outpouring of support, and the medical professionals who took care of her father.
“We were horrified and shocked and sickened to see what happened to him. We hope that in the future nothing like this happens again.”
Demetrio says Dao suffered a concussion, a broken nose, and lost two teeth in the altercation. Videos of the incident showed Dao returning to the plane after he had been removed from it, but Demetrio says his client has no memory of that.
“He has no interest in ever seeing an airplane [again],” Demetrio said, adding that he hopes Dao becomes a posterchild that changes the industry as a whole.
“For a long time, airlines — United in particular — have bullied us,” Demetrio said. “They have treated us as less than we deserve.”
Demetrio said Dao is “the guy to stand up for passengers moving forward.”
Dao was ejected from the flight to make room for airline employees who needed to get to Louisville to work flights the following day, or risk delaying hundreds more passengers. But Demetrio says that’s not an acceptable excuse for what happened.
Preserve recordings
“Maybe we keep some seats open for that emergency situation when a pilot or a copilot has to get to a destination unexpectedly,” Demetrio said. “Maybe airlines have to start expecting the unexpected.”
For its part, United reiterated its previous apology to Dao on Thursday. “We continue to express our sincerest apology to Dr. Dao,” the airline said in a statement after the Dao’s press conference. “We cannot stress enough that we remain steadfast in our commitment to make this right.”
“This horrible situation has provided a harsh learning experience from which we will take immediate, concrete action,” the airline said, including a commitment to never again “ask law enforcement officers to remove passengers from our flights unless it is a matter of safety and security.”
“We have committed to our customers and our employees that we are going to fix what’s broken so this never happens again.”
Demetrio and Golan have already asked an Illinois court to order United to preserve recordings and other evidence of what happened on board the plane.
While suggesting what happened to Dao was “disturbing,” Demetrio rejected the allegations of racism that some have levelled at United, suggesting he was singled out because of his ethnicity. Dao came to America from Vietnam during the fall of Saigon in 1975.
“What happened to doctor Dao could have happened to anyone,” Demetrio said.
“This lawsuit will create a national discussion on how we’re going to be treated going forward.”