There's a new layer to the April incident in which a 69-year old man was bloodied and battered after being forcibly dragged off a United Airlines plane.
The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that one of the Chicago Department of Aviation police officers involved was just coming off a suspension when he and other officers violently removed Dr. David Dao after he refused to be involuntarily bumped from the flight.
Dao suffered two broken teeth, a broken nose and a concussion. He recently reached an out-of-court, undisclosed settlement with United Airlines.
Now it's likely his attorneys have another lawsuit possibility for the Chicago Department of Aviation.
Officer James Long had just returned to duty on March 31 after a five-day suspension. Nine days later, the Dao incident took place. The Sun-Times, using records obtained via the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, did not specify what Long did to merit a suspension. The documents obtained by the paper only show that Long violated five department rules on Jan. 29, and, as a result, was suspended on March 27.
Those rules included "failing to take action as needed to complete an assignment or perform a task safely," "inattention to duty," "incompetence or inefficiency," "violating any departmental regulations, rules or procedures" and "conduct unbecoming an officer or public employee."
[READMORE]READ MORE: Police Reports Tell Other Side of United Incident [/READMORE]
Long and three other officers are already on paid leave as the Chicago Department of Aviation investigates the incident.
"CDA has a strong history of ensuring safety at our airports, and our multilayered security approach allows us to ensure that more than a hundred million passengers travel safely through O'Hare and Midway International Airports each year," mayoral spokeswoman Lauren Huffman told the newspaper in an emailed statement.
"The requested records demonstrate that whenever there is an issue involving any of our security personnel that we work quickly to address it to maintain our high standards of safety for the traveling public."
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