United Airlines video

Video via Fedor Larsi/YouTube

Video shows United employee’s attack on an old man in the airport

No employee offers assistance.

 

Kris Seavers

IRL

Posted on Jun 14, 2017   Updated on May 23, 2021, 3:05 am CDT

A video surfaced Wednesday of a United Airlines employee shoving a 71-year-old man to the ground and then walking away.

The YouTube video shows the man, passenger Ronald Tigner, lying motionless as people walk by for almost a minute until a woman—who is not an employee—comes to his aid. The incident took place more than two years ago at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaeUqF8FO7I

KPRC detailed the moments leading up to the attack:

Tigner went back to the United ticketing area and tried once more to get a new ticket, the lawsuit states. Two United employees, Alejandro Anastasia and Ianthe Phillips-Allred, allegedly refused to help Tigner, laughing and cursing at him, the lawsuit states.

Tigner’s attorney, William Hoke, told KPRC that when Tigner asked Anastasia for a new ticket, he replied with a smile, saying, “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

Tigner then told Anastasia to “wipe that smile off your face,” Hoke said, to which Anastasia responded with an obscenity.

Then, Anastasia “suddenly, unexpectedly and violently injured” Tigner, the lawsuit alleges.

In the video, United employees are seen standing over Tigner—but none appear to offer assistance.

“No one even went to check his pulse,” Hoke told KPRC. “They literally left him there like a piece of garbage.”

At the 1:22 mark, the woman, who Hoke said is a nurse, runs over and crouches next to Tigner.

Following the incident, Anastacia was charged with the felony crime of injury to an elderly individual and had to write a letter of apology to Tigner, according to the station.

“This employee is no longer with our company,” United said in a statement. “The conduct shown here does not reflect our values or our commitment to treat all of our customers with respect and dignity.”

Tigner is now suing the airline for more than $1 million.

The video comes as another tough break for United, which has faced boycotts, market lossesand seemingly endless scrutiny after a passenger was forcibly removed from one of its planes in April.

H/T Boingboing

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*First Published: Jun 14, 2017, 3:42 pm CDT