​Mr. David Dao initiates legal proceedings against United

Lawyers representing a passenger dragged off a United Airlines plane say they have filed a court order to preserve all evidence of the incident.

A US citizen protested against the poor treatment of Dr. David Dao by United Airlines staff in Chicago, Illinois, USA on April 11. Photo: Reuters

According to Reuters news agency, on April 12, lawyers for Mr. David Dao, the passenger who was dragged off a United Airlines plane in Chicago, filed an emergency petition with an Illinois state court, requesting that United Airlines preserve the video footage of the incident and other related evidence.

Citing the possibility of "serious prejudice" by the airline in its treatment of their client, Dr. David Dao's lawyers are asking United and the City of Chicago, which operates O'Hare International Airport, to preserve surveillance video, cockpit voice recordings, passenger and crew lists, and other related documents from United Flight 3411.

On April 12, the Chicago Aviation Authority announced that two more security officers had been suspended for their involvement in the April 9 incident involving Dr. David Dao. Previously, on April 11, a security officer had been suspended.

New York attorney Paul Callan said public outrage over the airline's treatment of the doctor will force United to resolve the case more quickly and at greater cost than usual.

On April 12, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz apologized to Dr. Dao, his family, and the airline's passengers in an interview on ABC (USA).

Mr. Ocar Munoz also said his airline will not use security forces to force passengers off overbooked flights.

"This can never, ever happen again," Mr. Munoz asserted.

Mr. Munoz is facing strong outrage from customers and calls for a boycott of the airline after a video showing the mistreatment of Dr. David Dao went viral online.

According to Dr. David Dao's lawyers, as of April 11, Mr. Dao was still in a hospital in Chicago being treated for his injuries.

On April 12, United Airlines announced that it would compensate all passengers on the flight that had the incident for airfare.

Mr. Munoz said United will review how it compensates passengers who voluntarily give up their seats on overbooked flights. He added that the airline will no longer require passengers who have already boarded the plane to return their seats.

Some US lawmakers are calling for new rules to make it harder for airlines to overbook, a common profit-boosting business practice.

As of the afternoon of April 12, two collective petitions demanding Mr. Munoz's resignation had collected a total of more than 124,000 signatures. However, speaking on ABC, Mr. Munoz said he had no intention of resigning because of this incident.

According to TTO