When you’re searching for your missing children, you’d hope that you’d receive help wherever it can be provided.
However, one unfortunate man met with humiliation and abuse at the hands of United Airlines employees.
One can only imagine the pain Louis Zaharias, whose children have been missing for decades, suffered because of the United Airlines abuse.
Apparently, matters got so bad that the poor man was on the floor, crawling to get away from the situation. He also suffered serious injuries such as brain injury.
What Exactly Happened?
Louis Zaharias was at the John Wayne Airport (Orange County, CA) after a five-hour flight from visiting an aunt of his. The 92-year-old woman, Aunt Lil, was ill and he gave her a visit and returned home.
At the airport, he learned that his baggage, which included sentimental gifts, had been lost by the airline.
Louis approached the airline’s baggage claim office and there the staff refused to give him a baggage claim form. They demanded an inventory of his possessions and separated him into a corner of the airport.
Shockingly, the United Airlines staff told him that he would not be able to leave the small area if he didn’t give up his right to claim the baggage they lost.
The elderly man struggled to complete his baggage claim form, and during the process struck his head on a disguised plexiglass shelf. It was attached to the wall but it’s not quite clear how he struck his head.
Louis had fallen to the ground, which resulted in traumatic brain injury, orthopedic injuries, and a concussion.
Instead of helping the injured, older man, employees simply looked on him, watching his struggle.
He could not stand up and was forced to crawl towards the baggage claim across the airport’s floor. Looking for help, Louis was on his hands and knees.
The concussion, along with disorientation and pain, caused him to lose control of his bladder and throw up on the floor.
Still, none of the employees moved a finger to help the man. In fact, they stood around laughing and making jokes about Louis.
The mean-spirited employees were unaware of the fact that a security camera was capturing their abuse towards a customer of the airline.
From Bad to Worse
As if this maltreatment was not enough, the employees contacted California police to help get rid of Louis.
Despite being a paying customer, Louis was referred to as a ‘vagrant’ and the employees wanted him forcibly removed from the airport.
Fortunately, the police were more sympathetic. Officers were horrified by the situation and lashed out at the airline for allowing this terrible treatment of a fellow human being.
The police then helped the man get the medical attention he so badly needed.
The footage, a police incident, and the loss of a customer’s possessions have done nothing to move the airline to remedy the situation.
No one has tried to reach out to Louis to show remorse or try and make up for what happened to him.
Since the incident, Louis cannot work and suffered horrible injuries that could have been remedied. He is getting psychiatric treatment, as well as ongoing medical care, and counseling.
He also had to go for orthopedic procedures.
This kind of despicable treatment is not supposed to happen to paying customers, or any human being for that matter.
The question now is, have there been other cases of United Airlines abusing customers?
Any such United Airlines complaint should definitely be investigated with the help of a legal professional. From there a complaint can be filed the proper way through someone like Nehora Law, who was chosen by Louis Zaharias for representation.
The Story of the Zaharias Children
For more than 30 years, Louis Zaharias has been searching for his missing children, Christopher Louis, and Lisa Mae.
They disappeared on 27 November 1987 in Mission Viejo, California. Christopher was three years old and Lisa Mae only 15 months when their mother, Susan Elizabeth Gammill Zaharias abducted them.
The evidence trail and search for the Zaharias children went cold and the two have been missing for over three decades.
Louis has spent more than $1 million in his fight to find his children.
After all that, he had to suffer humiliation and abuse at an airport – what has this world come to?
Blackburn Romey, personal injury law firm comments: “Our firm stands ready to assist victims of such negligence, ensuring they receive the justice and compensation they deserve for their suffering and losses.”
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