A constipated United Airlines passenger who spent more than 30 minutes in the airplane bathroom was pulled out with his pants still around his ankles by an irate pilot who broke down the door and then had the humiliated customer frogmarched off the aircraft in handcuffs by law enforcement and detained in a CBP facility.
Details of the bizarre but alarming incident have just been revealed after an astonishing lawsuit was filed in a New York district court by the victim, Yisorel Liebb, a visibly Jewish passenger who was allegedly subjected to antisemitic abuse by the enraged pilot.
With echoes of the infamous Dr. David Dao drama that occurred on a United Airlines plane in 2018, Liebb says he was left screaming out in pain as Customs and Border Protection officers bent his arm and deliberately tightened handcuffs after he asked the reason why he was being detained.
According to court documents, the incident occurred on January 28 when Liebb and a friend boarded United flight UA-1601 from Tulum, Mexico, to Houston.
Shortly after takeoff, Liebb went to use the restroom, but after 20 minutes of being inside the lavatory, a flight attendant became concerned and fetched Liebb’s friend to see why he had been gone for so long.
Liebb’s friend made contact with him through the lavatory door and relayed to the flight attendant that he was suffering from constipation but should be out soon.
Ten minutes passed, and there was still no sign of Liebb. At this point, one of the pilots got involved and ordered Liebb’s friend to coax him from the lavatory.
When Liebb didn’t immediately leave the restroom, the pilot allegedly began yelling at him. Liebb tried to reassure the pilot that he “was just finishing up” and would leave the restroom very soon, but the pilot became “visibly enraged” and broke the lock to force the door open.
The pilot then allegedly pulled Liebb out of the bathroom with his pants still down around his ankles, exposing his genitals to all of the passengers sitting in the vicinity of the restroom.
At this point, the pilot then allegedly made antisemitic remarks about Liebb and “how Jews act.”
Once on the ground, however, the pair’s ordeal at the hands of United Airlines was not finished. Unbeknownst to them, the pilot had arranged for the plane to be met by law enforcement, with CBP officers boarding the plane and demanding that everyone remain seated.
The officers then made a beeline for Liebb and his friend, pulled them from their seats, and handcuffed them. They were both taken to a Homeland Security facility where they were handcuffed to tables and subjected to “intrusive, unconsented, unwarranted and unreasonable searches.”
Liebb claims he sustained injuries to his head and legs as he was pulled from the bathroom, as well as wrist pain from being handcuffed too tight. The pair are demanding compensation from United under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention, which makes airlines responsible for injuries by passengers during an international flight.
In the wake of the Dr. David Dao incident, United Airlines drastically changed the way it dealt with non-compliant passengers, with flight attendants trained to de-escalate incidents as far as possible and to avoid physical intervention if at all possible.
Flight attendants at the airline often say they are there to advise and report rather than to enforce, allowing United to take follow-up action after the fact. In some rare cases, however, United still trains aircrew to physically restrain passengers should their behavior become so disruptive that they pose an immediate risk to safety,
This report is the one sided version of the passenger. It is possible all this is true as reported by the passenger, however, I doubt it very much. I am Jewish myself and I doubt this event occurred as reported by the passenger. I would very much like to see the other side of the report. In other words, the report of the aircrew. This must have been a very significant disturbance for the pilot to leave the cockpit and break a door in to remove the passenger from the lavatory.
Sounds like he could have been a drug mule. CPB can X-ray him and find out. Nobody comes out of Mexico constipated…..
Funny!!
Does any one REALLY believe this story? There is NO NEED to break down the door unless the latch is jammed. NO pilot is going to leave the cockpit to face a passenger issue. Not gonna happen on a US carrier. Does anyone remember the events of September 11, 2001? If nothing else, the flight crew will lockdown the cockpit. Something stinks (no pun intended) about this whole episode.
I’ve been on a flight where someone has been in the bathroom for an extended period of time and passengers brought it to the flight attendants attention. The flight attendants knocked on the door and waited for a response. They also asked through the door if they were OK. In this case, the passenger responded, and the flight attendants left them alone. Can you imagine if this was brought to their attention, and they didn’t do anything? If he didn’t respond, the flight attendants may think that he was in need of medical attention. They also have ways of opening the locked bathroom door. No need to ‘break it down’’. And if a pilot was there, they may have asked for their help. Just more sensationalistic and probably incorrect and incomplete reporting by PYOK.