Former senator tossed from plane after complaining
@AlDAmatoNY Former State Senator of New York was kicked off JetBlue flight just for speaking out… #FreedomOfSpeech #FirstAmendment pic.twitter.com/d5AwutQDav
— Layla D (@laylafd31) January 10, 2017
As a senator from New York, Al D’Amato was known for his inventive filibusters. But the former lawmaker’s latest speech was cut short Monday after he was booted from a plane as he attempted to convince passengers to turn against the flight crew over travel delays.
“I’m making an appeal to all you people: Stand up to what’s right and walk out with me,” D’Amato says in a video posted on Facebook by another passenger on D’Amato’s JetBlue flight. “If you don’t, then what do you stand up for?”
The JetBlue flight was set to depart from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to New York City at around 1:40 p.m. Several delays changed the departure time to around 8:00 p.m., CNN reported.
One passenger told CNN that tensions on the flight were inflamed after flight crew asked passengers to move to help balance the plane’s weight. When some passengers refused to move, according to one account, D’Amato grew irritated with their refusal and the crew’s reluctance to make them move. That’s when, according to a passenger’s account, he complained that “the captain needs to grow some balls.”
“They’re throwing me off the plane because I complained about what they were doing,” D’Amato said in a video captured by a passenger.
Passengers booed in response. “I thought we had freedom of speech?” one asked.
{mosads}In a statement to CNN, JetBlue said D’Amato’s behavior reflected why passengers would be removed from an aircraft.
“The decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly,” said JetBlue spokesman Morgan Johnston. “If a customer is causing a conflict on the aircraft, it is standard procedure to ask the customer to deplane, especially if the crew feels the situation runs a risk of escalation in-flight.”
A member of D’Amato’s consulting firm told CNN that JetBlue apologized for “overreacting” by kicking him off the plane.
“Anyone who knows Senator D’Amato knows he speaks his mind—but in this case, he spoke after a long and demanding trip to Florida to visit an ailing friend,” said Park Strategies, D’Amato’s consulting firm.
D’Amato represented New York as a Republican in the Senate from 1981 to 1999. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D) took his seat in the 1998 election.
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