United Airlines Stays Hot - Video Comes Out Of Employee Shoving 71 Year Old Grandfather To The Ground And Knocking Him Unconscious Over Ticket Dispute
NY Post – United Airlines has apologized to a 71-year-old grandfather who was pushed to the floor by an employee at an airport in Houston over a ticket dispute, leaving the man “there like a piece of garbage,” according to his attorney.
Footage of the incident at George Bush International Airport in July 2015 was broadcast late Tuesday by KPRC and shows Houston-based attorney Ronald Tigner being shoved to the floor by a male customer service rep just steps away from the ticket counter.
“This is just one of the most inhumane things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Tigner’s attorney, William Hoke, told the station.
The surveillance video shows Tigner motionless on the floor after the push, unconscious after hitting his head — and no other United employee decides to help the man, according to Hoke.
“He laid there lifeless for several minutes,” Hoke said. “Not one United employees [came] to check on him … They literally left him there like a piece of garbage.”
No United employees can be seen helping Tigner after the fall during the nearly three-minute surveillance footage. A passenger who was trained as a nurse bent down to assist Tigner about 50 seconds after he fell as nearby United employees “just watch,” KPRC reports.
A United employee later calls 911, but doesn’t tell the dispatcher that the elderly man was pushed or that he was unconscious.
When it rains it pours for the airline industry, in the middle of one of the biggest, longest, extended PR nightmares in recent memory; and nobody is getting it worse than United. Story after story of asshole after asshole all starting with that damn doctor who wouldn’t get out of his damn seat. And now they have to worry about videos from 2015?! Come on!! That’s just piling on. Don’t know what kind of lawyers United is working with here but the fact they couldn’t go above and beyond to suppress 2 year old videos from becoming public and instantly viral is outrageous. They’ve got enough on their plates right now fellas, can’t have videos from the past of some ticket checker dropping an elderly man like a sack of potatoes start floating around the web right now.
Tigner is suing United Airlines and two employees, including the man who pushed him, identified as Alejandro Anastasia, for more than $1 million, alleging negligence in a dispute that Hoke says began over Tigner’s request for a new boarding pass since his was garbled. Anastasia laughed and cursed at Tigner, according to the lawsuit.
“Anastasia was looking at Mr. Tigner and started smiling and said, ‘Can’t you see we’re busy?’ and there’s no one in the vicinity of these two employees,” Hoke said. “And he tells Anastasia to wipe that smile off his face. That’s when Anastasia says, ‘I’ll kick your (expletive)’ and shoves Tigner to the ground.”
Anastasia was later charged with injury to an elderly individual, a felony, and was ordered to pay a fine. He was also ordered to wrote a letter of apology to Tigner and attend anger management sessions, KPRC reports.
The old timer dropping a “wipe that smile off your face” put a smile on my face big time. Wish we had some audio or at the very least a close up, really get a feel for that Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino vibe. Of course 0.5 seconds later he was napping on the floor, but still, nothing beats a grumpy, fed up old man.