CNN
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Terrell Davis He and his family were looking forward to a vacation in California when the NFL Hall of Famer was inexplicably restrained and removed from a United Airlines plane.

“I was stripped of my dignity. I was helpless. I couldn’t do anything,” the two-time Super Bowl champion told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Wednesday.

The incident happened Saturday at the end of a flight from Denver to Orange County, California. Davis, 51, was traveling with his wife, two sons and a daughter when one of the sons asked for a cup of ice during the beverage service, Davis wrote on Twitter. Instagram“The flight attendant either didn’t hear his request or ignored him and continued to walk past our row,” the post read.

“I calmly reached out and gently patted (the employee) on the arm to get his attention to ask again for a cup of ice for my son,” Davis wrote.

“He shouted, ‘Don’t hit me,’ and left the cart to rush to the front of the plane. I was confused, as were the passengers in front of me who witnessed this exchange. I couldn’t think of anything other than that this employee was extremely rude and blatantly wrong in accusing me of hitting him.”

Davis did not see or interact with the flight attendant for the rest of the flight, he wrote. After the plane landed in Orange County, the pilot asked passengers to remain in their seats, and FBI and law enforcement agents went to Davis’s seat, handcuffed him and removed him from the plane — a scene he wrote was “recorded by multiple passengers.”

Davis said an FBI agent who handcuffed him told him, “Don’t resist.”

“My sons were there. My daughter was there. My wife was there. I wondered what was going on. They didn’t ask me any questions. I didn’t even get a chance to explain,” he told CNN.

Davis’ wife, Tamiko Davis, said she knows her husband can’t even begin to wonder why he was handcuffed and led away.

“Terrell knows better. Unfortunately, historically, in these situations, you can’t ask about interacting with law enforcement as a black man,” she told CNN. “So thank God my husband has the ability and the class and the understanding to know that in that moment, all he could do was sit there and comply and be humiliated in front of his children and 200 people … however many people were on that plane. They gave him no other options.”

His wife told ABC’s “Good Morning America” ​​earlier Wednesday that after Davis was removed from the plane, “we were left to fend for ourselves on a flight while everyone was looking at us.”

“During questioning, agents rightly determined that the flight attendant was inaccurate in his accusations, and the agents were very apologetic,” Davis later wrote.

“I definitely felt like this wouldn’t have happened if I was a white person. That’s how I felt. Whether that’s true or not, that’s a different conversation,” he told CNN.

Davis said he always tries to be a positive role model for his children and teach them to do the right thing — which makes the sight of him being led away in handcuffs all the more poignant.

“We did the right thing. We didn’t do anything. And yet I found myself handcuffed, taken off the plane and treated like a death row inmate,” Davis said.

Davis told GMA on Wednesday morning that he is still waiting for a direct apology from United Airlines. CNN has reached out to United Airlines for comment.

“The flight attendant has been suspended while we closely review this matter,” United Airlines said in an email to CNN Monday evening.

“This is clearly not the type of travel experience we strive to provide, and we have reached out to Mr. Davis’s team to apologize,” the United Airlines email said.

But Davis told GMA: “They haven’t reached out to me to apologize. They’ve reached out to my lawyers, but I haven’t heard back directly from them. That’s a problem for me.”

“The traumatic experience my sons, daughter and wife had to go through watching me in handcuffs — without due process or any explanation — cannot be undone,” Davis wrote on Instagram.

The FBI’s Los Angeles office acknowledged Monday that agents and law enforcement partners responded to a report of an incident with a flight that landed Saturday at John Wayne Airport in Orange County. The person taken into custody for questioning “was cooperative with law enforcement and was released to continue his travels,” the FBI said.

The FBI does not provide details of incidents or the names of people who may have been questioned unless public charges are filed, said Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman.

In an email to CNN this week, Parker Steiner, managing partner of the Chicago-based law firm representing Davis, wrote that what happened on the flight was “horrific and disturbing to say the least.”

“We plan to fully investigate the events that occurred and are actively communicating with United Airlines on this matter,” Steiner wrote.

One of only eight players to have He rushed for over 2,000 yards in an NFL season.Davis played seven seasons in the NFL – all with the Broncos – from 1995 to 2001, helping the Broncos win two Super Bowls in January 1998 and January 1999.

It has been named best player From that first match, Runs for 157 yards and scores three touchdowns In the Broncos’ 31-24 win over the Green Bay Packers. The three-time Pro Bowler was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

CNN’s Jason Hanna, Raja Razek and Cindy von Kidnow contributed to this report.