United passenger dragged off flight owns Hilton Head home

The passenger dragged off of an United Airlines flight earlier this week owns a million-dollar house on Hilton Head Island, property records show.

Dr. David Dao — who was traveling Sunday from O’Hare in Chicago to Louisville — was thrust into the national spotlight after videos surfaced on social media of security officers dragging him by his arms down the aisle.

The home, located on Collier Court off Singleton Beach Road, had a market value in 2016 of $1.37 million, according to Beaufort County’s property records database. Records show Dao bought the home in 2005 for $2,275,000.

The three-story, six-bedroom property has an elevator, an in-ground pool, a two-car attached garage and an exterior spa.

The homeowner’s identity came as a surprise to Carol Emery, who rented it for the week with her family and answered the door Wednesday morning.

“We, of course, have seen the national news of the passenger removed from United Airlines,” she said. “We had no idea he was the owner of this house.”

Emery and eight others in her family rented the home this week for spring break. It is the West Virginia family’s first time on Hilton Head, she said.

Emery’s husband, children and three grandchildren were at the beach while she said she stayed behind to clean up from breakfast.

Emery’s daughter found the house online, paid the weekly rental price and wouldn’t share with her mother how much it cost, Emery said.

A statement from Dao’s lawyers said he was undergoing treatment in a Chicago-area hospital for his injuries.

Following public outrage from the incident, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz issued an apology Tuesday and called the incident “truly horrific.”

This story was originally published April 12, 2017 at 4:43 PM with the headline "United passenger dragged off flight owns Hilton Head home."