Witness backs up story that elderly man was beaten on flight to Chicago
A witness gave her emotional account to FOX 32 of how crew members manhandled an elderly man on an emirates airlines flight.
After she saw our story, she reached out and said she wanted to speak out on his behalf. She said he's telling the truth, and that he was tortured on that flight and the airline should face charges.
"I pray this story goes. No one can do this and get away with it,” she said.
Fidelia Iseghohimen sat in front of 74-year-old David Ukesone on the first leg of the flight from Nigeria and she has her ticket to prove it.
"He was sitting right behind me. and why i noticed him is when they were serving food he said 'wow, this food is much. all this for me’,” she said.
But both changed seats on the flight from Dubai to Chicago.
"One hour, two hours into the flight when we heard something like a commotion,” she said. "And I looked and they were carrying somebody. one was carrying the man in the leg and another was holding him.”
She added, "the man was shouting 'what did I do? What did I do? You should leave me alone. I didn't do anything. Why are you doing this to me.”
Fidelia says David was dragged to the back row by the flight crew, his hands cuffed behind him, his legs bound and gagged for at least 8 hours.
"The man was really, really in pain. Shouting. Please help me now. What did I do. What did I do,” she said. "I felt like crying. When I saw him but there was nothing I could do. I was so sympathetic honestly.”
The airline still says David caused the commotion. Fidelia didn't see that.
"I didn't hear any fight. The only time I heard that there was a commotion was when they were bringing him to us, my direction,” she said.
Fidelia says what the airline did to David is criminal.
"So sad. You don't do that to a human being. Even to an animal. Animal they put him in a cage. Well fed. Not a human being. It's so sad honestly. For that age, 74,” she said.
And she wants the same thing David’s family wants.
"Do justice to them. Justice has to prevail,” she said.
As for why no cell phone video was taken, the woman only said everyone was told to keep their phones in airplane mode. Dhe also said she never said anything on the man's behalf because she was afraid the flight crew would do the same thing to her.