handled?  From what I have read, the passenger repeatedly refused to get off the plane to both united staff and the popo. I know the circumstances are that united messed this up by overbooking the flight, but they ALL do this #badword# and usually it never comes down to such extreme measures to "resolve" the situation.  What do you do?  Ask someone else to leave?  Offer him a million FF miles?  How is this different than, say, being asked to leave a bar for no good reason or fault of your own (not drunk, not breaking law, the bar just doesn't want you there anymore).  Does united have a right to remove someone from one of their airplanes if they see fit? Isn't that airplane technically private property?  What does the license/contract that it the ticket say about all this?

Like I said, not saying what happened is right, but how should this have been handled?  

BBG

Either pay a lot more for a volunteer, or find some other way to get your non-paying employees to Louisville. It's only 300 miles. Hell an Uber would have been less than $1,000 for all 4 airline employees. He may not own the seat but he did pay a fair rate to rent it and at minimum has the right to not be pummeled.