A passenger who was on the plane while Odell Beckham Jr was escorted off has spoken out about what happened from their perspective, while the NFL star has released a statement through his legal team.
Beckham Jr was removed from an American Airlines flight on Sunday, as emergency responders feared for his safety after he appeared to be losing consciousness. The free-agent was set to take off from Florida and return to Los Angeles on a five-hour flight, but was removed after refusing to leave the aircraft.
The vessel had to be deplaned as a result, affecting all passengers on board who then faced major delays. And one of those passengers was Carlos Gauna, who has explained what happened.
"The term used over the intercom was, 'We have an issue with a passenger. We have to return back to the gate,'" passenger Carlos Gauna told Local 10 News. "We did see an ambulance show up, we did see paramedics board the airplane."
Beckham Jr was removed from the plane after police confirmed that the crew tried to wake the NFL star, and later called the authorities when he became unresponsive. Beckham Jr initially refused to leave the plane upon becoming conscious once more, which led to officials deplaning the aircraft.
"There was absolutely no noise coming from the first class cabin," Gauna added. "It was, like I said, very uncharacteristically quiet in the airplane.
"The whole ordeal delayed us two and a half hours," Gauna said, as while they continued with their journey, Beckham Jr made other arrangements upon returning to the terminal. Following the ordeal, American Airlines released a statement.
"American Airlines flight 1228, with service from Miami (MIA) to Los Angeles (LAX), returned to the gate before take-off due to a customer failing to follow crew member instructions and refusing to fasten their seatbelt," it read. "The customer was removed and the flight re-departed at 10:54 a.m. local time."
The crew claimed that they feared for Beckham Jr's safety as he was said to be unresponsive, but an attorney for the NFL star stated that he simply fell asleep as he waited for the flight to depart. Daniel Davillier, Beckham Jr's attorney said to ABC News: "Earlier today, Odell Beckham Jr boarded a morning flight in Miami without any problems.
"The flight was delayed after boarding and prior to take off Mr. Beckham fell asleep with his blanket over his head, which is his normal practice for long flights. He was awakened and told that the plane was back at the gate and that he needed to get off the plane because he did not put his seatbelt on when asked.
"He responded that he was asleep, and that he would put his seatbelt on at that time. He was informed that it was too late, and that either he would have to get off the plane or everyone would have to deplane.
"The overzealous flight attendant refused to simply allow Mr. Beckham to fasten his seatbelt and proceed with the flight and instead immediately removed everyone from the plane. At no time was Mr Beckham disruptive or combative. He was willing to comply with the seatbelt requirement, but the flight attendant wanted to prove that he had the authority to have Mr. Beckham removed from the flight.
"The airline proceeded to send Mr. Beckham’s luggage to Los Angeles without him. This incident was completely unnecessary. Sleeping on a plane should not be a cause for removal from a flight. If they could wake him up when the flight returned to the gate, then they could have done the same thing and woken him up to ask him to put on his seatbelt."
