CNN
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Terrell Davis and his family were looking forward to a vacation in California when the NFL Hall of Famer was inexplicably handcuffed and taken off a United Airlines plane.
“I was stripped of my dignity. I had no power. I couldn’t do anything,” the two-time Super Bowl champion told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday.
The incident occurred Saturday at the end of a flight from Denver to Orange County, California. Davis, 51, was flying with his wife, two sons and a daughter when one of the sons asked for a glass of ice during drink service, Davis wrote on Instagram. A flight attendant “either did not hear or ignored his request and continued past our row,” the post read.
“I calmly reached back and gently touched (the assistant’s) arm to get his attention and again ask for a cup of ice for my son,” Davis wrote.
“He yelled, ‘Don’t hit me,’ and got off the cart and quickly walked to the front of the plane. I was confused, as were the passengers in front of me who witnessed the exchange. I thought nothing of it other than that this particular employee had been incredibly rude and completely wrong to accuse me of hitting him.”
Davis did not see or interact with the attendant for the remainder of the flight, he wrote. After the plane landed in Orange County, the pilot asked passengers to remain seated, and FBI and law enforcement officers went to Davis’ seat, handcuffed him and removed him from the plane; the scene was “recorded by multiple passengers,” he wrote.
Davis said an FBI agent who handcuffed him told him, “Don’t resist.”
“My kids were there. And my daughter was there. And my wife is there,” he told CNN. “I wonder what’s going on. I wasn’t asked any questions. I didn’t get a chance to explain myself.”
Davis’ wife, Tamiko Davis, said she knew her husband couldn’t even question why he was being handcuffed and taken away.
“Terrell knows better. Unfortunately, historically, in these situations, interaction with law enforcement as a black man… you can’t ask for it,” she told CNN. “So thank God my husband has the wherewithal, the class, the understanding to know, at that moment, that all he could do was sit there and comply and be humiliated in front of his children and the 200… or the people that were on that plane. He wasn’t given any other option.”
After Davis was taken off the plane, “we were left to fend for ourselves on a flight with the whole world watching us,” his wife told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Wednesday morning.
Later, “during questioning, the agents correctly determined that this flight attendant had been inaccurate in her allegations and apologized profusely,” Davis wrote.
“I definitely felt like that wouldn’t have happened if I was a white person,” she told CNN. “That’s what I felt. Whether it’s true or not, that’s a different conversation.”
Davis said he always tries to be a positive role model for his children and teach them to do the right thing, which makes watching him being led away in handcuffs even more heartbreaking.
“We did the right thing. We didn’t do anything. Yet I found myself in handcuffs, being dragged off a plane and being treated like a convict,” Davis said.
Davis is still waiting for a direct apology from United Airlines, she told “GMA” Wednesday morning. CNN has reached out to United Airlines for comment.
United Airlines “removed the flight attendant from her duties while we closely review this matter,” the company said in an email to CNN on Monday night.
“Clearly, this is not the type of travel experience we strive to provide, and we have reached out to Mr. Davis’ team to apologize,” United Airlines’ email reads.
But Davis told GMA that “they have not reached out to me to apologize. They have reached out to my attorney, but I haven’t heard from them directly. So, to me, that’s a problem.”
“The traumatic experience of my two children, daughter and wife seeing them in handcuffs, without due process or explanation, cannot be undone,” Davis wrote on Instagram.
The FBI’s Los Angeles field office acknowledged Monday that agents and law enforcement partners responded to a report of an incident with a flight that landed Saturday at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport. A person who was detained for questioning “cooperated with law enforcement and was released to continue their travel,” the FBI office said.
The FBI does not provide details of incidents or names of people who may have been interviewed unless charges are filed publicly, FBI field office spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
What happened on the flight “is horrifying and disturbing, to say the least,” Parker Stinar, managing partner of the Chicago-based law firm representing Davis, wrote in an email to CNN this week.
“We plan to fully investigate the events that took place and are actively contacting United Airlines regarding this matter,” Stinar wrote.
Davis, one of eight running backs to rush for more than 2,000 yards in an NFL season, played seven NFL seasons, all with the Broncos, from 1995 to 2001, and helped the Broncos win two Super Bowls in January 1998 and January 1999.
He was named MVP of that first title game, rushing for 157 yards and scoring three touchdowns in the Broncos’ 31-24 victory over the Green Bay Packers. The three-time Pro Bowler was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.
CNN’s Jason Hanna, Raja Razek and Cindy Von Quednow contributed to this report.