Odell Beckham Jr. was the subject of a delayed flight on Sunday morning in Miami. What happened?
On Sunday, in the middle of the first slate of NFL games and in the midst of several reports about his planned free agency visits, news came out about Odell Beckham Jr. was kicked off of an American Airlines flight in Miami headed to Los Angeles, California.
Here’s a full timeline as well as everything we know so far about the incident.
Where was OBJ going?
According to reports, Beckham was flying from Miami International Airport to Los Angeles. It seems as though his flight may have been AA1228, which was scheduled for 9:01 AM ET, not leaving until 11:30 AM ET.
UPDATE: American Airlines confirmed the flight was AA1228 to Ryan Dunleavy.
OBJ Tweets cryptically about something early in the morning
Just after 10 AM ET, Beckham sent out a flurry of cryptic Tweets about something he experienced with very little substance.
Reports of OBJ getting kicked off flight
At 2:44 PM or so, Andy Slater reported that Beckham was kicked off a flight in Miami. Reportedly, he was in and out of consciousness and refusing to buckle his seat belt.
As Slater said, the flight needed to deplane, which was confirmed by passengers and video, while the situation was handled and Beckham was escorted off.
Later, Tom Pelissero Tweeted a full statement from the Miami-Dade police which read:
“At approximately 9:30 a.m., officers from the Miami-Dade Polcie Department, were dispatched to a medical emergency at an American Airlines flight. The flight crew was concerned for a passenger (Mr. Odell Beckham), as they tried to wake him to fasten his seat belt, he appeared to be coming in and out of consciousness, prior to their departure. Fearing that Mr. Beckham was seriously ill, and that his condition would worsen through the expected 5 hour flight, the attendants called for police and fire rescue. Upon the officers arrival, thee flight crew asked Mr. Beckham several times to exit the aircraft, which he refused. The aircraft was deplaned, at which time Mr. Beckham was asked by the officers to excite the plane, and did so without incident. Mr. Beckham, was escoreted to the non-secure area of the terminal by the officers where he made other arrangements.”
Pelissero also reported that Beckham was not arrested, detained, or cited.
Video released of OBJ being escorted away from gate in Miami
Multiple passengers Tweeted video of Beckham being escorted off.
OBJ’s lawyer speaks on behalf of Beckham
Later in the day, Beckham’s lawyer released a statement explaining the situation on behalf of Beckham. Here’s the statement via Ian Rapoport:
“Earlier today, Odell Beckham, Jr boarded a morning flight in Miami without any problems. The flight was delayed after boarding and prior to take off. Mr Beckham fell asleep with his blanket over his head, which is his normal practice for long flights. He was awaken and told that the plane was back at the gate and that he needed to get off the plane because he did not put his seatbelt on when asked. He resp[bonded that he was asleep, and that he would put his seatbelt on at that time. He was informed that it was too late, and that either he would have to get off the plane or everyone would have to deplane.
The overzealous flight attendant insisted on removing everyone from the plane instead of simply allowing Mr Beckham to fasten his seatbelt and proceed with the flight. At no time was Mr Beckham disruptive or combative. Hew was willing to comply with the seatbelt requirement, but the flight attendant wanted to prove that he had the authority to have Mr Beckham removed from the flight. The airline proceeded to send Mr Beckham’s luggage to Los Angeles without him.
That incident was unnecessary. Sleepign on a plane should not be a cause for removal from a flight. If they could wake him up when the flight returned to the gate, then they could have done the same thing ask him to put on his seatbelt.”