Male H.S. teacher aboard United flight: 'This didn't need to happen'
Louisville Male High School teacher Jason Powell was seated about five rows ahead of Elizabethtown doctor David Dao on a flight from Chicago to Louisville Sunday night.
Near the back of the plane, seven of his history students - returning from a spring break trip overseas - sat together, tired from a previous flight between Munich and Chicago.
None of them knew Dao before boarding. But since a video of an incident aboard the plane went viral, the doctor has been weighing on the teacher's mind.
"The poor guy, I really do feel for him," Powell said by phone Tuesday. "This didn't need to happen. I'm sure he didn't expect it to happen to him; I wouldn't have expected that to happen to me."
Powell can be partially seen in the 30-second video that made its rounds nationwide Monday after Louisville resident Audra Bridges shared it online.
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In the video, Dao is shown being lifted from his window seat by a security officer and dragged down the aisle of the United plane.
Powell confirmed reports that United employees had offered passengers up to $800 to give up their seats for four airline crew members, who needed to catch another flight in Louisville or risk causing a chain effect of delays.
Powell said he understood the airline's reasoning for removing passengers, but he didn't understand why they didn't take care of the situation before boarding - or why the supervisor who handled it did so with such an annoyed, "belligerent" tone.
"The tone immediately turned me off," Powell said. "She accelerated the situation. It was poor leadership."
When not enough passengers volunteered, Powell said the supervisor told them she would randomly select two people to leave - one of whom ended up being Dao.
Though another passenger called Dao stubborn for refusing to give up his seat, Powell said he felt Dao's reaction was appropriate.
"He was very polite, matter-of-fact," Powell said. "I could hear pretty clearly. He was acting appropriately annoyed. I was 100 percent with him. I wouldn't have gotten off the plane either."
Powell said the first two security officers to respond did not get physical with Dao, but they spoke on their walkie talkies like they were encountering a dangerous situation.
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After a few minutes, a third officer arrived and pulled Dao from his seat. That officer has since been placed on leave pending a review of the incident.
Powell said he and other passengers were in shock, but the worst part, for him, came when Dao returned to the plane and was cornered near the bathroom in the back - closer to Powell's students.
"I'm thinking to myself, 'Nothing good is coming of this,'" Powell said. "... I removed my kids from the plane, saying we don't need to see this stuff. We got up and left."
The group was quickly followed by a father and his eight-year-old daughter, who was crying along with one of Powell's students, he said.
Soon after, the airline deboarded the plane to clean up blood from the incident. After, passengers - including Powell and his students - reboarded the place to head to Louisville.
Powell said he hasn't spoken with that group of students - ranging from 16 to 18 years old - since returning to school, but he has discussed the incident in class after other students spotted him in the video.
Powell added that he hasn't followed the national reaction on social media. But he's still upset by the bizarre events.
"This did not need to happen," Powell said. "This is not what adults do, it's not what we're trying to teach our kids to do. Use your words, is what your elementary school teacher would tell you."
"This is not how our country is supposed to be operating. People in authority positions do not need to be operating like this."
Reach reporter Bailey Loosemore at 502-582-4646 or bloosemore@courier-journal.com.