Terrell Davis handcuffed by FBI after 'tapping' fight attendant on plane

Terrell Davis wears sunglasses as he walks on the sideline before an NFL football game

July 18, 2024 8:46 AM PT

Terrell Davis gently touched his wife, Tamiko, on the shoulder multiple times with one finger.

He was attempting to demonstrate the physical contact he made with a United Airlines flight attendant to ask for a cup of ice for his son last weekend.

“I’m tapping my wife the same way I tapped 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 number of TV appearances with his wife, the flight attendant responded to the contact by yelling, “Don’t hit me!” — an accusation that Davis said led to him being handcuffed and led off the plane Saturday by FBI agents as Tamiko and their three children, ages 9 to 13, watched.

The former Denver Broncos running back said he was able to clear the matter up within minutes after talking to agents at John Wayne Airport in Orange County.

But, Davis said on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” “I felt demoralized. I felt embarrassed, humiliated. I felt like my dignity was stripped from me right in front of my children and my family.”

He told CNN he felt like he had been “treated like a convict.”

“I certainly 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, left, and his wife, Tamiko, at after party

Tamiko Davis told CBS the incident was “traumatizing.”

“I felt helpless,” she said. “I remember watching them place handcuffs on Terrell, and seeing my two sons there. As a mom, as a Black mom raising two Black sons, you work really hard to not have your children have those types of experiences. And we were simply going on vacation. And this is something that we’ll never get back. That moment — I can’t protect my children from that.”

Davis said he and his two sons were sitting 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 “kind of rude” while taking his sons’ drink orders and placed the beverages on their trays “with force.”

According to Davis, his 13-year-old son politely asked for a cup of ice, but the flight attendant had already started moving his cart and did not hear him.

Davis told ABC that he tried to get the flight attendant’s attention.

“I finally said, ‘Excuse me, can I get some ice?’ I just tapped him on the shoulder,” Davis said. “He swings his arm back and said, ‘Don’t hit me!’ ... And then he rushes up to the front of the plane, leaves the cart right there, and a gentleman in front of me turns around and says, ‘I saw that. You didn’t hit him.’”

The attendant eventually returned with the ice and removed the cart, Davis said, but then wasn’t seen by the retired player for the rest of the flight. Upon landing, the pilot asked the passengers to remain in their seats. Davis said he figured there was a medical emergency and started reading a magazine.

Then, Davis said, several FBI and law enforcement agents boarded the plane and went straight to him.

“Without explaining to me why they were doing it, they walk up to me and [one of the agents] whispers in my ear,” Davis said on “Good Morning America.” “He says, ‘Don’t fight it,’ and he puts cuffs on me, while I’m sitting down.”

According to Davis, the agents let him go after talking to him and the man who had told Davis he witnessed the incident.

“What happened here was a false or misleading statement from a United employee resulted in a man being handcuffed in front of his family, his wife, his children,” Davis’ attorney, Parker Stinar, said Wednesday on “CBS Mornings.” “Being humiliated, tremendous fear, embarrassment, shock to the family. And he’s escorted off the plane because of these statements, which within minutes law enforcement interviewing Mr. Davis, other passengers and others determined that it was a false or misleading statement.”

Laura Eimiller, a spokesperson for the FBI field office in Los Angeles, 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, a person was detained for questioning, was cooperative and then was released.

No charges were pursued, Eimiller said, but the incident remains under investigation.

United Airlines issued a statement Monday.

“This clearly is not the kind of travel experience we strive to provide,” stated the airline, which declined to comment for this story. “We have reached out to Mr. Davis’s team to apologize and continue to discuss the issue with them. We have removed the flight attendant from duty while we closely look into this matter and we are reviewing our policies around incidents like this.”

Stinar said Wednesday that the airline’s response was unsatisfactory.

“Thus far, United’s apology has been in response to media inquiries,” he told CBS. “The CEO has not issued a statement. And unfortunately, apologies and perhaps policy change doesn’t take away from the traumas this family has experienced, or other United passengers. And they need to be held accountable. We would love to see policy change, we think that’s important, beginning with a sincere, true apology.”

Terrell Davis says he ‘tapped’ flight attendant for ice. He ended up handcuffed at John Wayne Airport

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