Super Bowl winner ‘wrongly handcuffed’ on United Airlines flight

Posting on his Instagram, Mr Davis released a statement explaining that during the flight’s beverage service his son had asked for a cup of ice.

In an effort to get his son the ice, Mr Davis said he “lightly tapped” the flight attendant on the arm to get his attention, only to hear him respond, “Don’t hit me!”

The flight attendant then left the cart and went to the front of the plane, according to the Instagram account.

“I was confused, as were the passengers in front of me who witnessed the exchange, Mr Davis wrote. “I thought nothing of it other than this particular employee was incredibly rude and blatantly wrong in his accusations of me hitting him.”

Mr Davis said that when the plane arrived at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport, he and other passengers were told to remain seated. FBI agents and local authorities then boarded the plane, placed him in handcuffs in front of his wife and three children and then removed him from the flight.

He said the “entire flight of passengers watched in silence”.