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U.S. NEWS Friday 5 May 2017

California family with 2 toddlers booted from Delta flight

DAVID KOENIG to a Transportation Security
CHRISTOPHER WEBER Administration spokesman.
AP Airlines Writer By late Thursday afternoon,
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Delta Delta still had not explained
Air Lines is offering refunds why the Schears were re-
and compensation to a moved from the plane. A
California family that says spokesman said the flight
they were forced off a was not overbooked.
plane and threatened with On the video, Brian Schear
jail after refusing to give can be heard talking with
up one of their seats on a a person off-camera — it is
crowded flight. not clear whether that per-
A video of the April 23 inci- son is a Delta employee,
dent was uploaded to You- a security officer, or some-
Tube on Wednesday and body else.
added to the list of recent After Schear says that he
encounters on airlines that won’t leave — the airline
have gone viral, including will have to remove him
the dragging of a bloodied — the person off-camera
passenger off a United Ex- replies, “You and your wife
press plane. will be in jail ... it’s a federal
Brian and Brittany Schear of offense if you don’t abide”
Huntington Beach, Califor- by an airline crew’s order. Delta Air Lines planes are parked at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in Washington.
nia, told KABC-TV in Los An- Schear then suggests that A California family says they were forced off a Delta plane and threatened with jail after refusing
geles that they were return- his wife could hold one of to give up one of their children’s seats on a crowded flight. A video of the April 23, 2017, incident
ing from Hawaii with their the toddlers during takeoff was uploaded to Facebook on Wednesday, May 3, 2017, and adds to the list of recent encounters
on airlines that went viral, including the dragging of a passenger off a United Express plane.
two toddlers. They wanted and then put the young- (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
to put one of the children in ster in the car seat. Another
a seat they had bought for person, who appears to a seat for children under ment late Thursday after- A spokesman said Delta
their 18-year-old son, who be a Delta supervisor, tells 2 and put them in an ap- noon. would not disclose the
instead flew home on an him that federal rules re- proved child-safety seat. “We are sorry for the un- amount of the refund or
earlier flight. quire that children under 2 Brian Schear spoke briefly fortunate experience our compensation.
Delta says on its web- must stay in a parent’s lap to The Associated Press customers had with Delta, Congress held two hearings
site that tickets cannot throughout the flight. by telephone Thursday and we’ve reached out to this week on airline custom-
be transferred and name That is false. The Federal and said he has been them to refund their travel er service — a response to
changes are not allowed. Aviation Administration overwhelmed by media and provide additional the video of Chicago air-
Federal regulations do not “strongly urges” that infants requests. He declined ad- compensation,” the state- port security officers drag-
bar changing the name on be in a car seat, although ditional comment said the ment read. Delta said its ging a 69-year-old man off
a ticket as long as the new it permits those under 2 to family may hold a news goal is to work with custom- a United Express flight to
passenger’s name can be be held in a parent’s lap. conference. ers to resolve travel issues, make room for crew mem-
run through a data base On its website, Delta rec- The Atlanta-based airline “that did not happen in this bers who were traveling for
before the flight, according ommends that parents buy issued an updated state- case and we apologize.” work. q

Chicago shooting prompts push to better arm police officers

DON BABWIN to protect themselves from Yards neighborhood on One officer was shot in the carry semi-automatic long
Associated Press gang members who are the city’s South Side, where arm and hip and the oth- guns if they are trained and
CHICAGO (AP) — The shoot- favoring these weapons the two officers were shot er in the back. They have certified, but there aren’t
ing of two plainclothes of- more and more. and wounded Tuesday. been released from the enough instructors.
ficers with a high-powered “We are now seeing a big Occupants in two vehicles hospital. They were con- “My brother is a Chica-
rifle this week was a chill- push on the street of gang opened fire on the officers ducting a follow-up inves- go police officer, he was
ing reminder of something members carrying semi- who were sitting in an un- tigation to a previous in- trained (to use these weap-
Chicago police have long automatic weapons and marked vehicle. No arrests cident and were wearing ons) in the Marines and it
said: They are outgunned high-powered assault rifles have been made. civilian clothes with vests still took him 2 ½ years to
by the city’s gangs. and using them in the com- “We have been investigat- bearing police badges. get certified,” Alderman
Now, four aldermen who mission of crimes, shooting ing increased sightings or More than a dozen bullets Anthony Napolitano said.
are all former Chicago po- police officers and one an- use of AR-15s, or assault ri- were recovered from the “His partner did two tours of
lice officers are pushing to other as well,” Alderman fles, in the conflict between scene of Tuesday’s shoot- duty in Iraq, he was a colo-
get as many officers trained Christopher Taliaferro said. two rival gangs in that ing. nel, and he’s been waiting
in using high-powered long This is particularly true, po- area,” police spokesman The aldermen say Chicago at least a year to get certi-
guns as quickly as possible lice say, in the Back of the Anthony Guglielmi said. officers are now allowed to fied.” q