A legally blind man was kicked off a US
Airways flight Wednesday night after
crew members grew upset over his
seeing eye dog, Doxy. Also given the
boot? About 30 other passengers, who
effectively mutinied over the man's
treatment, causing the flight to be
canceled.
In an interview with ABC Philadelphia,
Albert Rizzi explained that after the
flight took more than an hour to take
off, his dog became restless and
moved out from under the seat in
front of him to curl up under his legs.
At that, he says a flight attendant
instructed him to move the dog, which
he attempted to do.
"[The flight attendant] came back and
said to him, 'You've got about a minute
to get this straightened out,'" one
passenger recalled to ABC New York.
"And he tried to do whatever he could,
and she went back to the front of the
plane. We were taxiing like we were
going to take off. And at that point in
time, we're about to take off, and all
the sudden the captain gets on the PA
and says we have to head back to the
terminal."
The airline told NBC Philadelphia that
Doxy had walked into the aisle, a
statement Rizzi denies. Either way, the
plane returned to the terminal, where
Rizzi and his guide dog were escorted
off.
Once other passengers realized Rizzi
was getting kicked off, however, they
started to voice their disagreement.
"When we, the passengers, realized
what was going on, we were, like,
'Why is this happening? He's not a
problem. What is going on?'"
passenger Frank Ohlhorst told ABC
Philadelphia. "And we all kind of
raised our voices and said, 'This is a
real problem.' The captain came out of
the cockpit and he basically asked us
all to leave the aircraft."
The flight was subsequently canceled,
and many passengers traveled from
Philadelphia to Long Island, N.Y., their
intended destination, via a bus paid
for by US Airways.
In an emailed statement to The
Huffington Post, US Airways says Rizzi
"became disruptive and refused to
comply with crew member
instructions when the flight attendant
asked him to secure his service dog at
his feet. As a result of his disruptive
behavior, the crew returned to the
gate and removed Mr. Rizzi and his
service dog from the flight."
As for Rizzi, he says he's grateful for
the support of other passengers.
"These people, all of them, got on a bus
and drove 3 and a half hours from
Philadelphia," he told ABC
Philadelphia. "They could have stayed
on the plane, but they chose not to. I'm
so humbled.



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