Netizens have come out in droves to defend a passenger who was unceremoniously dragged off a United Airlines plane on April 9 because the airline overbooked.

Footage of him being hauled off by Chicago airport security with a bloodied face went viral.

The worldwide media went into a frenzy as they tried to establish the identity of the passenger. Reports have surfaced that the person in question is one David Dao, a Vietnamese-American doctor from Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

Unfortunately many news outlets, such as the Straits Times (ST), reported on Dao's past which had nothing to do with the incident with United Airlines, leading to headlines like this:

Sources that ST quoted included The Daily Mail, TMZ, and The New York Post.

Netizens were understandably aghast at the angle that ST chose to report.

Gue Lee Yuan, we also say.

According to Time magazine, the lawyer acting for Dao says that Dao is currently undergoing treatment in a hospital. He also added that the family appreciates the concern that netizens have shown but they will not be issuing public statements until Dao has been released from the hospital.

Fortune reported United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz issued a full apology on April 11, after his initial internal statement to United Airlines employees blamed Dao for being 'disruptive and belligerent'.

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Top photo adapted from Heavy Editorial and screengrabs from The Straits Times and Facebook

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