Terrell Davis gently tapped his wife, Tamiko, on the shoulder several times with one finger.
He was trying to prove the physical contact he had with a United Airlines flight attendant to ask her for a glass of ice for his son last weekend.
“I tap my wife the same way I tap him, just to get his attention,” the Pro Football Hall of Famer said during an interview on “CBS Mornings” on Wednesday. “That was it.”
In a story Davis first told in an Instagram post earlier this week and then several more times Wednesday during a series of television appearances with his wife, the flight attendant responded to the contact by yelling, “Don’t hit me!” — an accusation that Davis says prompted FBI agents to handcuff him and remove him from the plane Saturday as Tamiko and their three children, ages 9 to 13, looked on.
Please read my statement regarding the recent humiliating, disturbing and traumatizing incident in front of our children on board. @United https://t.co/tRQ7fENdOZ
For any queries, please contact @sgghlaw.
—Terrell Davis (@Terrell_Davis) July 15, 2024
The former Denver Broncos running back said he was able to clear up the matter within minutes after speaking with agents at John Wayne Airport in Orange County.
But Davis told ABC's “Good Morning America”: “I felt demoralized, embarrassed, humiliated. I felt like my dignity had been taken away from me in front of my children and my family.”
He told CNN he felt like he had been “treated like a convict.”
“I definitely felt like that wouldn’t have happened if I… was a white person,” Davis added. “That wouldn’t have happened. That’s what I felt. Whether that’s true or not, that’s a different conversation.”
Terrell Davis and his wife, Tamiko, in 2012.
(Casey Rodgers/Associated Press)
Tamiko Davis told CBS the incident was “traumatizing.”
“I felt helpless,” she said. “I remember watching Terrell get handcuffed and seeing my two children there. As a mother, as a black mother raising two black children, you work so hard to not let your children have those kinds of experiences. And we were just going on vacation. And this is something we’re never going to get back. That moment… I can’t protect my children from that.”
Davis said he and his two sons were seated in one row and his wife and daughter were across the aisle and one row behind them during the flight from Denver to Orange County. The two-time Super Bowl champion told “Good Morning America” that the flight attendant was “a little rude” when taking his sons’ drink orders and placed the drinks on their trays “forcefully.”
According to Davis, her 13-year-old son politely asked for a glass of ice, but the flight attendant had already started moving his cart and didn't hear him.
Davis told ABC he tried to get the flight attendant's attention.
“I finally said, ‘Excuse me, can I get some ice?’ I tapped him on the shoulder,” Davis said. “He moved his arm back and said, ‘Don’t hit me!’ … And then he ran to the front of the plane, left the cart right there, and a gentleman in front of me turned around and said, ‘I saw that. You didn’t hit it.’”
The attendant eventually returned with the ice and removed the cart, Davis said, but then the retired player did not see him for the rest of the flight. Upon landing, the pilot asked passengers to remain in their seats. Davis said he thought it was a medical emergency and began reading a magazine.
Then, Davis said, several FBI and law enforcement agents boarded the plane and headed straight for him.
“Without explaining why they were doing it, they approached me and [one of the agents] “He whispers in my ear,” Davis said on “Good Morning America.” “He says, ‘Don’t fight it,’ and he puts the handcuffs on me while I’m sitting down.”
According to Davis, officers let him go after speaking with him and the man who had told Davis he had witnessed the incident.
“What occurred here was a false or misleading statement by a United employee that resulted in a man being handcuffed in front of his family, his wife and his children,” Davis’ attorney, Parker Stinar, said Wednesday on “CBS Mornings.” “He was humiliated, there was tremendous fear, embarrassment, shock for the family. And he was escorted off the plane because of these statements, which within minutes, law enforcement who interviewed Mr. Davis, other passengers and others determined were false or misleading statements.”
Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, confirmed to The Times that FBI agents and law enforcement officers at John Wayne Airport responded Saturday to a report of “a violent assault” aboard a flight, which required further investigation. According to Eimiller, one person was detained for questioning, was cooperative and later released.
No charges have been filed, Eimiller said, but the incident remains under investigation.
United Airlines issued a statement on Monday.
“Clearly, this is not the kind of travel experience we strive to provide,” said the airline, which declined to comment for this article. “We have reached out to Mr. Davis’ team to apologize and discuss the matter further with them. We have removed the flight attendant from duty while we closely investigate this matter and are reviewing our policies around incidents like this.”
Stinar said Wednesday that the airline's response was unsatisfactory.
“So far, United’s apology has been in response to media inquiries,” he told CBS. “The CEO has not issued any statement. And unfortunately, apologies and perhaps a change in policy do not take away the trauma that this family has experienced, or other United passengers. And they need to be held accountable. We would love to see a change in policy, we think that’s important, starting with a sincere and true apology.”
