AIDS Victim With IV Bag Forced Off Plane, Arrested

SAN FRANCISCO —  A man with AIDS was forced off an American Airlines flight in Chicago and arrested after refusing to leave the plane, which airline officials said was not equipped to handle his medical needs, company officials and witnesses said.

Timothy Holless, 33, of San Francisco, was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct and released on his own recognizance Sunday after he was taken off Flight 1185 to San Francisco, a Chicago Police Department spokeswoman said.

Holless, who had an IV bag with him and had open sores, was violating policies aimed at safeguarding his health and that of other passengers, an American Airlines spokeswoman said Monday.

But two people aboard the plane--both associated with AIDS-awareness groups in the San Francisco Bay Area--complained about how Holless was treated.

“It was awful. Just incredibly awful,” said Robby Robinson, a board member of the San Mateo AIDS Program who witnessed Holless’s removal.

Flight attendants asked Holless to deplane when they saw him hang an IV bag from the oxygen compartment over his seat, an airline spokeswoman said.

American, based in Ft. Worth, Tex., does not allow passengers to fly with IVs, company spokesman Mary Frances Fagan said Monday.