CapeCodOnline.com – A partially paralyzed Maui man who said airline workers forced him to crawl on and off flights to and from Nantucket in 2012 has settled his lawsuit against Delta Air Lines, his lawyer confirmed Tuesday.
Baraka Kanaan sued Delta last year, saying the airline did not provide him a wheelchair or other assistance while boarding a flight from Maui to Nantucket and again when boarding a return flight from Nantucket to Maui during the summer of 2012.
Kanaan has been unable to walk since an accident in 2000. His lawsuit said he had to crawl across the tarmac, up and down the plane’s stairs and down the aisle to his seat coming to and leaving Nantucket. The suit said the ordeals were humiliating and caused wrenching pain a week before he was scheduled to have spinal fusion surgery.
The lawsuit accused Delta of negligence and of noncompliance with the Airline Carrier Access Act because the airline did not have an aisle chair to help Kanaan to his seat, nor a lift to get him up and down the stairs, nor any assistance to get him from the plane to his wheelchair.
“Purportedly fearful of liability,” the suit stated, “the flight crew refused to assist Mr. Kanaan, instead serving as spectators themselves.”
Kanaan called the airline to arrange for help before both flights, the lawsuit said. Both times, the airline assured him that he would be accommodated. When he arrived for his return flight, the airline did offer a piece of cardboard to allow him to crawl across the tarmac without sullying his clothes. Kanaan found the offer unhelpful.
“They basically watched me crawl,” Kanaan said during an interview with the Times in July.
Obviously this is a horrendous move by the airline workers, but they only get part of the blame. You have to put some of this on society. We live in a world where people are so scared of being liable in court if something goes wrong, that they will watch a disabled man crawl across a fucking runway and up a flight of stairs without helping him. That is just absolutely deplorable.
That said, if you are on that Delta crew you have to help this guy no matter what. It’s not like you are working for the Nazi’s and they’ll execute you if you are found helping the inferior race. You losing your job is the worst case scenario here, not that big of a deal if it means you don’t have to hand out cardboard for paralyzed people to crawl on like they are about to pop off a backspin.
The really big question is how did not one of the other passengers on that flight help this dude out? It takes a special type of dickhead to watch this go down and not get off your ass and lend this guy a hand. But even MORE important is the biggest question of all to come out of this story…
Are they saying this was a direct flight between Maui and Nantucket? I think they are right? Holy shit! Is that not the most pretentious flight path in the world? You are living the absolute LIFE if you ever need to fly direct from Nantucket to Maui. I wonder if they have locker rooms on the plane where you can change out of your Nantucket Reds and into your board shorts? It’s amazing that there are enough people making this trip on a regular basis that there is a direct flight.
No wonder none of the other passengers helped this guy out. If I was living a life where I fly between Nantucket and Maui direct I wouldn’t risk breaking so much as a nail carrying some dude across a tarmac. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
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