There’s usually more to the story than meets the eye. Was “poor” Dr. Dao’s harrowing experience on United Airlines a result of an out-of-control airline cop, or is there way more to this story that has yet to be revealed? It turns out that Dr. Dao has a bit of a dark history and definitely has some serious anger issues. That certainly doesn’t mean it’s okay for an airline cop to physically abuse a paying customer, but based on Dr. Dao’s shady history, perhaps United Airlines should be given the opportunity to tell their side before people start cancelling their frequent flyer subscriptions with them. 

Is it possible the “good” Dr. Dao was simply setting himself up to be the benefactor of a massive lawsuit against United Airlines?  You be the judge…

First underreported fact:

Initially, United insinuated that flight 3411 was “overbooked.” However, United spokesman Jonathan Guerin told USA Today that was not the case. He said that all of the 70 seats on the plane were filled, but that didn’t make it over capacity.

Instead, a regional affiliate that was operating the flight — Republic Airlines — opted to move four of its passengers because four crew members were considered “must-ride passengers.”

Second underreported fact: 

The airline said its agents “were left with no choice” except to call Chicago Aviation Police to get Dao off of the flight. When they arrived, security officers were unable to get Dao to cooperate with their instructions and physically removed him through the aisle.

In the scuffle, Dao’s face struck an arm rest and his mouth became bloodied. A short time after officials got him off the plane, he returned to the cabin and ran to the back, holding onto an object and pled to let him go home.

Is Dr. Dao playing to the crowd on the flight or is he truly traumatized after being physically removed from his seat?

Watch the short video taken by a passenger here. It appears that the “good” doctor is either very good at drama or has some sort of disorder which causes him to violently scream when touched:

Here’s some of the background on Dr. Dao, the passenger who was physically removed by airline cops from the United flight leaving from Chicago:

The passenger hauled off a United flight is a lung doctor with a taste for gambling, a history of angry outbursts — and a conviction for trading narcotics prescriptions and cash for gay sex in motels.

Dr. David Dao of Elizabethtown, Ky., confirmed Tuesday that he was the inadvertent star of a viral video stirring outrage around the globe and said he was undergoing hospital treatment in Chicago.

In an interview from his bed, Dao, 69, told Louisville TV station WLKY that he wasn’t feeling well.

In 2003, Dao was charged with 98 counts of illegally prescribing and trafficking prescription painkillers such as hydrocodone, Oxycontin and Percocet. You can read the criminal complaint above, along with other documents related to the case and Dao’s medical license.

David Dao by Heavy on Scribd

He was a co-defendant in the case along with Brian D. Case, who was indicted on 33 felony drug charges.

Dao was caught on surveillance video meeting patients and supplying them with painkillers, mainly hydrocodone.

According to a criminal complaint on at least one occasion, Dao received $174 in exchange for the pills in an unlabeled bottle. From 2001-2003, Dao “unlawfully prescribed controlled substances” to patients, court documents said.

The criminal complaint in the case went onto say that Dao would solicit homosexual relations with a male patient in exchange for a prescription for hydrocodone. The meetings occurred at motels and it was found that Dao had written out personal checks to the patient on more than one occasion.

The patient was arrested at a Walgreens Pharmacy and brought in for an interview, where he confessed about his and Dao’s relationship. The man was brought into police custody because he was calling the pharmacy to order prescriptions and saying that he was in fact Dao, picking up prescriptions under numerous aliases.

Dao was eventually arrested by police at a hotel room in Jefferson County on July 25, 2003. The room was under surveillance by the Louisville Police Department and Dao was seen with the male patient without a shirt on and with his pants undone. The patient gave Dao money for a bottle of pills and police stormed the room to arrest him upon the exchange.

Dao was officially charged with unlawful prescribing, trafficking in a controlled substance and complicity in obtaining drugs by fraud and deceit and pled not guilty to the charges.

Some of those charges ended up being dismissed, but Dao was eventually convicted on six counts. He was found guilty of complicity in obtaining a controlled substance (hydrocodone) by fraud and sentenced to two years, eight months in prison, a sentence that was suspended, and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine. –Heavy

On the day he was busted, Dao was secretly videotaped with Case in a Red Carpet Inn in Jefferson County, Ky., “with his shirt off and his pants undone,” the records say.

Dao was convicted after a trial and sentenced to five years’ probation after the judge agreed to suspend a prison term of two-plus years recommended by the jury.

He agreed to surrender his medical license in 2005, but had it provisionally reinstated in 2015 so he could work one day a week for another doctor in Elizabethtown.

The licensing records also reveal how Dao was “the subject of many complaints” while working at Hardin Memorial Hospital.

The Medical Executive Committee there “took a strong stance in 2002, and put [Dao] on a corrective action plan due to his disruptive behavior” and referred him “for evaluation and anger management,” the papers say. – NYP

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