Bodycam footage from Miami-Dade police officers has been released of the incident involving NFL wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who was escorted off a flight for being unresponsive when attendants allegedly asked him to put his seat belt on.
The footage begins with officers boarding American Airlines Flight 1228 from Miami to Los Angeles, and they went to Beckham’s first-class seat as other passengers looked on while the scene unfolded.
“Sir, are you able to get up? Can you get up please? Are you OK?” one officer asked.
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Beckham looked confused at first but then responded. He said he knew he was in Miami and on a flight, which prompted one officer to say, “He looks good to me.”
It appeared officers were going to get off the flight until American Airlines flight attendants stepped in.
“Do you know how many times we’ve shaken him to put the seatbelt on?” one female attendant said. Another added that Beckham didn’t have pants on, but officers did see him wearing them upon questioning.
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Still, the attendants didn’t believe Beckham should be taking the five-hour flight to L.A. in his state, adding that he told one of the other attendants that he was out clubbing the night before. As the officer is heard saying, it is not their jurisdiction to say who can and cannot fly.
“He’s probably in a deep sleep,” one official says.
Ultimately the captain and flight attendants believed Beckham wasn’t fit to fly.
“This is a five-hour flight, he shouldn’t be going with us like that,” one attendant added.
The result was everyone needing to deboard the airplane as Beckham got frustrated and didn’t want to get off the flight. Beckham was eventually escorted off the plane by law enforcement, but not before he and another passenger had some words.
“That s–t don’t mean nothing to me,” Beckham said at the other passenger.
“Looking at me to get off the plane for you. I would never.”
Beckham, who was on the phone in moments of the footage, implied no one ever tried to wake him up.
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“Got life f—-d up, I’m sorry,” he said. “All you had to do was wake me up.”
Miami-Dade Police Department issued a statement after news broke about the incident.
“At approximately 9:30 a.m., officers from Miami-Dade Police Department, were dispatched to a medical emergency at an American Airlines flight,” police told NFL Network in a statement. “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, the 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 exit the plane, and did so without incident. Mr. Beckham was escorted to the non-secure area of the terminal by the officers where he made other arrangements.”
American Airlines added that the customer failed to follow crew member instructions by refusing to fasten his seat belt, and he was removed. Customers ended up reboarding the plan and departing at 10:54 a.m.
Beckham posted a bunch of tweets presumably in response to what occurred.
“Never in my life have I experienced what just happened to me… I’ve seen it all..,” he tweeted.
At the time, it was reported that Beckham was about to go on official visits to find his next potential team. He never ended up signing with a new NFL squad as reports regarding his recovery from ACL surgery hadn’t been completed.
Beckham tore his ACL during the Super Bowl in February with the Los Angeles Rams, who defeated the Cincinnati Bengals to give Beckham his first career ring. He had a touchdown catch in the game prior to his injury occurring at SoFi Stadium.
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