Man Crawls Off Plane: Disabled Paraplegic Suing Delta Airlines for Degrading Treatment
A disabled man has claimed he was forced to crawl off a plane run by Delta Airlines, and is now suing the company in an extraordinary case.
D. Baraaka Kanaan is a 40-year old paraplegic, who is suing Delta Airlines claiming that the airline's staff forced him to crawl on and off their flight, and provided no additional assistance to help him.
Kanaan has filed a lawsuit claiming that he "endured physical and extreme emotional suffering" from the experiences and believes Delta should pay him a significant sum in damages.
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He claims the first incident took place July 27, 2012 when he traveled on a flight from Maui, Hawaii to Nantucket, Massachusetts. Kanaan claims he was forced to crawl onto the flight.
Then two days later, when Kanaan returned to Hawaii from Massachusetts, he was again forced to endure the degrading and embarrassing treatment, according to his allegations.
The 40 year old has claimed that he called the airline weeks in advance to notify them of his disability and so they could make the appropriate arrangements for him. He told them he would need an aisle chair to get him to his seat and a lift to get on the plane.
The man has described that after crawling off the plane upon his arrival in Nantucket, he was assured the airline had prepared the necessary equipment to help him onto the plane. Instead, the assistance offered to him was when a Delta attendant offered to put a piece of cardboard down so Kanaan would not ruin his clothes.
Seemingly realizing they had caused an embarrassing and degrading experience for Kanaan, the airline gave him a $100 voucher and 25,000 SkyMiles to compensate him for the treatment.
Needless to say Kanaan refused the offer and is now bringing a lawsuit against Delta.
Just in December 2012, Marine Lance Cpl. Christian Brown, a double amputee and Afghan war veteran, was forced to ensure what has been described as a degrading experience with Delta when he was forced to sit in the back of the aircraft. Attendants argued that they put him there because the plane was about to take off.
