President Of N.C. NAACP Removed From Plane After Being Verbally Assaulted

Story out of Raleigh, North Carolina:

The Rev. William Barber, president of the state NAACP, is questioning why he was removed Friday night from a flight in Washington, D.C.

American Eagle Flight 5382 was scheduled to leave shortly after 10 p.m. Friday from Reagan National Airport when it returned to the gate before departure because of a disruptive passenger, according to Matt Miller, a spokesman for American Airlines. Miller said the passenger was removed and the flight arrived 40 minutes late at Raleigh-Durham International Airport around midnight.

Barber said in a statement Saturday that the incident involved a verbal altercation with another passenger who made disparaging remarks about him and his physical disability. Due to a bone-fusion arthritic disability, Barber said he has to purchase two seats.

Barber, who was returning from speaking at an event, said at his request a stewardess asked a loud nearby passenger to “bring it down a little bit.” But Barber said the other passenger said “he had problems with ‘those people’ and he spoke harshly about my need for ‘two seats,’ among other subjects.”

Barber said that because of his disability he couldn’t turn around to face the passenger. So Barber got up from his seat “to speak to him as one human being to another.”

“I asked him why he was saying such things, and I said he did not know me, my condition, and I added I would pray for him,” Barber said of the conversation that he said took place before the crew had given safety instructions.

Barber said that an airline official told him he had to leave the plane. Barber said that police officers and airline employees treated him graciously, and some were openly troubled by the decision to remove him from the plane. Cont.

Story from - The Charlotte Observer
Image from - DonkeyHotey
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