Pro Football Hall of Famer Terrell Davis on Being Handcuffed and Removed from a United Flight: ‘I Felt Helpless’

Pro Football Hall of Famer Terrell Davis accuses United Airlines of a “disgusting display of injustice” after he says he was handcuffed and removed from a flight in front of his family over the weekend.

In an interview with CBS Mornings, Davis explained that during the flight, his 13-year-old son asked him for an iced drink. The flight attendant, he said, didn’t hear his son’s request, so Davis, who was seated on the aisle, said he raised his hand 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 the flight attendant turned 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 pay much attention to it until the flight from Denver landed in Orange County, California.

Upon landing, Davis said, everyone was asked to remain in their seats. Davis said he thought it was a medical emergency, so he stayed in his seat reading a magazine until he heard a noise 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 to the plane, and as they got closer to my seat, they came right up to me, and the officer came up to me, he leaned over and whispered, ‘Don’t resist,’ and he put me in handcuffs.”

At the time, the former Denver Broncos star wasn’t sure why he was being handcuffed. He said he thought about the ice incident, but said the officer didn’t explain what was happening.

“At that moment I felt all my dignity, I felt helpless, I felt embarrassed,” he said.

Tamiko Davis, Davis’ wife, said she was unaware of the incident. She said she asked what was going on and repeatedly asked her husband if it was a joke.

“It’s a kind of cruel joke he’s playing on me,” she said. “You feel all these emotions.”

The couple’s sons, ages 11 and 13, sat next to Terrell Davis, while their 9-year-old daughter sat on the plane next to Tamiko Davis as the family vacationed at Disneyland.

“I felt helpless. I remember seeing them handcuff Terrell and seeing my two sons there. As a mother, as a black mother raising two black sons, you work very hard to keep your children from having those kinds of experiences,” Tamiko Davis said. “That moment, I can’t protect my children from that.”

The couple lawyerParker Stinar said that after a few minutes of talking to Davis and other passengers, it was determined that the flight attendant’s statement was false or misleading.

“The problem is that the scars and the trauma that occurred are going to have a permanent impact on this family,” Stinar said on “CBS Mornings.” “Equally important, we’ve heard from dozens of other United passengers who have experienced similar behavior and events, and unfortunately, I don’t know why this happened to Mr. Davis, most of those people are not in handcuffs.”

Davis said the officers apologized to him.

“The biggest problem for me was the intent of the flight attendant,” he said. “When you went up there and made that call, your intent was to destroy me. I didn’t do anything to her.”

United Airlines released a statement regarding the incident:

“This is clearly not the kind of travel experience we strive to provide. We have reached out to Mr. Davis’ team to apologize and continue to discuss the matter with them. We have relieved the flight attendant of her duties while we closely review this matter and review our policies regarding incidents such as this.”

Stinar said legal action could be taken.

“They need to be held accountable. We would like to see a change in policy. We think that’s very important, starting with a sincere apology.”