United Airlines says a travel ban placed on former Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis was lifted days after an incident with a flight attendant led to the Pro Football Hall of Famer being handcuffed and removed by the FBI from a plane at John Wayne Airport earlier this month.
The airline also said that the flight attendant — whom Davis has said yelled “Don’t hit me!” after Davis had lightly tapped him to ask for some ice on a July 13 flight from Denver to Santa Ana — is no longer employed by United.
On Tuesday morning, Davis posted on Instagram an email from United that said he would not be permitted to travel on the airline while it reviewed the incident.
“I was banned on this airline even after they sent a media-issued statement with a boilerplate ‘apology,’” Davis wrote.
United sent a statement to The Times on Tuesday in response to questions regarding Davis’ post.
“Mr. Davis received this letter the day after the incident,” the airline wrote of the email informing Davis of the travel ban. “It was generated due to the report of the flight attendant — who is no longer employed by United. 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 Davis’ team that it had been rescinded.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.”
A representative for Parker Stinar, Davis’ attorney, confirmed to The Times that the email informing Davis of the ban had been sent July 14. However, Stinar said in a statement, Davis did not see the notice “until recently” and no one from his team had been informed that the travel ban had been lifted until after Davis’ Instagram post Tuesday morning.
“Up until today, we had received no correspondence or communication indicating that the travel ban had been rescinded,” Stinar said. “Mr. Davis did not see the initial correspondence until recently, and we have released the email because of the lack of response from United across the board. We can confirm we had received no rescinding of this ban until today, just moments ago, and only after Mr. Davis posted his statement.”
Davis initially talked about the incident in an Instagram post and then several more times during a number of TV appearances. The FBI confirmed to The Times that it responded July 13 to a report of “a violent assault” and that a person was detained for questioning, was cooperative and then was released, with no charges pursued.
Two days after the incident, United released a statement saying they had “reached out to Mr. Davis’s team to apologize and continue to discuss the issue with them.” Last week, Stinar released a video of Davis being placed in handcuffs by the FBI and announced that his client will be suing United Airlines and the flight attendant over the incident.
Stinar said on Tuesday that Davis’ lawsuit against United and its former employee will proceed.
“While my family and I continue to have difficult conversations with our children, I will continue to fight for what is right for all passengers of @united,” Davis said in his Instagram post Tuesday.