DENVER—Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Terrell Davis said Monday he was “humiliated” after being handcuffed and removed from a United Airlines flight, then later apologized to by law enforcement, over the weekend.
Mr. Davis, a former star with the Denver Broncos who attended Lincoln High School in his native San Diego and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017, wrote in an Instagram post that he had tapped a flight attendant on the arm, prompting the employee to shout, “Don’t hit me,” and hurry toward the front of the plane.
Once the flight from Denver to Orange County, Calif., landed, Mr. Davis wrote, law-enforcement boarded the plane, put Mr. Davis in handcuffs without explanation and removed him from the flight.
“I was—and remain—humiliated, embarrassed, powerless, and angry,” Mr. Davis wrote.
Mr. Davis, 51, said that while he was being questioned, law enforcement determined the flight attendant’s accusations didn’t have merit and apologized.
United Airlines said in a statement that they reached out to Mr. Davis’s team to apologize and have removed the flight attendant from duty while they review the incident.
“This is clearly not the kind of travel experience we strive to provide,” the statement read.
FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller said in a statement that agents and law-enforcement partners at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport responded to a report of an incident aboard a flight, and detained and then released an individual who was cooperative.
Wrapping up his Instagram post, Mr. Davis demanded an investigation into the flight attendant “who blatantly lied and placed undue harm on me and my family.”
Parker Stinar, Mr. Davis’s attorney, said in a statement: “We plan on fully investigating the events that took place and are actively contacting United Airlines in this matter.”
