United Airlines Apologizes to Terrell Davis and Fires Flight Attendant Who Claimed the NFL Star ‘Hit’ Him
NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Davis is no longer banned from flying on United Airlines after being handcuffed and escorted off a flight on July 13.
According to Davis, he lightly tapped a crew member to ask for a cup of ice during his flight, and the attendant shouted back “Don’t hit me!” The interaction ended there, but when the flight landed FBI agents boarded the plane and removed the former football star. They questioned him and later released him, after, he says, it was determined he had done nothing wrong.
The flight attendant who made the accusation has now been fired, United confirmed to PEOPLE, and the airline has removed Davis from a “no fly list” he was tentatively placed on while the incident was being investigated.
On Tuesday, July 30, Davis shared a photo of an email he received from the airline stating that his name was added to the airline’s “no fly” list.
“Adding insult to injury, @united not only had me removed from their flight in handcuffs, but placed me on their No Fly List after it was determined I did nothing wrong and was released,” Davis wrote in in the caption.
The airlines said in response to his post that they sent the notification to Davis on July 14, one day after he was removed from the flight, and “rescinded” it on July 15, which they claim was “communicated to Mr. Davis’ legal team.”
“It was generated due to the report of the flight attendant — who is no longer employed by United,” the airline wrote in a statement shared with PEOPLE. “The day after the letter was sent, we discussed with Mr. Davis’ team that it had been rescinded.”
“We have apologized to Mr. Davis for his experience and continue to review our handling of incidents like this to protect our highest priority — the safety of our customers and crew,” the airline added.
Davis’s legal team, however, refutes this timeline.
The athlete’s lawyer Parker Stinar wrote in a statement sent to United and shared with PEOPLE by the airline, that it was “blatantly false” that the airlines communicated that the ban was lifted “to the Davis Family through his lawyers,” and that they instead found out on July 30.
“We continue to be disappointed by the inappropriate and disrespectful handling of this horrific incident by United’s communication and legal teams,” Stinar said in his statement. “This response only further reinforces the lack of care taken with the Davis Family and disregard and negligence of their well-being. Engaging in tactics in an attempt to discredit the timeline of events is worrisome, to say the least.”
A representative for United calls this timeline “false.”
Stinar did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Davis previously recounted the details of the harrowing incident on his flight on Instagram.
He wrote that his son “politely requested a cup of ice,” but the flight attendant appeared not to hear him and proceeded past their row. Davis alleged he then “calmly reached behind” him and “lightly tapped” the flight attendant’s arm to get his attention. The crew member then shouted “don’t hit me,” Davis claims, and left the beverage cart “to hurriedly approach the front of the plane.”
“I thought nothing of it other than this particular employee was incredibly rude and blatantly wrong in his accusations of me hitting him. I did not see or interact with him further for the duration of the flight,” he recalls.
However, he said in his statement that when the plane landed at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, Calif. “six FBI and law enforcement agents boarded the plane” and “immediately placed me in handcuffs, while seated and without any explanation, in front of my wife and children while the entire flight of passengers watched in silence.”
He said he was then questioned by authorities and released from custody the same day.
A spokesperson for the FBI confirmed in a statement shared with PEOPLE that “FBI and law enforcement partners at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport “responded to a report regarding an incident that had occurred aboard a flight” and “detained” an individual for “questioning,” who was eventually “released to continue his travels.”
