I think there are two issues here: 1) That United could have him removed to begin with. Call this the social issue. 2) That he was removed violently. Call t

I think there are two issues here: 1) That United could have him removed to begin with. Call this the social issue. 2) That he was removed violently. Call this the physical issue. It's because these things are combined that we get the outrage we're feeling now. Police interact violently with people all the time. Often it gets overlooked because they were doing something wrong to cause it. People also get removed from flights all the time, but usually it gets ignored because we can't see their frustration as easily as we could see blood on Mr. Dao's face. United is absolutely responsible for the social issue, but I don't agree that they're responsible for the physical one. The police should have explored other options that didn't involve violence in order to get him off of the plane. At the point Mr. Dao was at, he was essentially trespassing on United's plane (not something I agree should be the case, but the way that I understand the policies of the airlines' governing body, that is the way it is looked at once they decide he should leave).