I don't think the majority of people are mad about him getting kicked off, I think it's more about
how he was taken off.
If we look at
18 U.S. Code § 241 - Conspiracy against rights
"If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or"
You also have
42 U.S. Code § 1983 - Civil action for deprivation of rights
"Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia."
If we look at which right under the bill of rights was infringed, we can go to this
Seventh Article:
The right of the People to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against
unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The airline was doing the legal thing and was well within their rights to do such things but the way the man was treated was clearly unfair.
The airline was in the right but the police were out of line.
P.S you also forgot about a part of the law you quoted which was
"(3) Compensation shall be 400% of the
fare to the passenger's destination or first
stopover, with a maximum of $1,350, if the
carrier does not offer
alternate transportation that, at the time the arrangement is made, is planned to arrive at the
airport of the passenger's first
stopover, or if none, the
airport of the passenger's final destination less than two hours after the planned arrival time of the passenger's original flight."
So if they didn't offer alternative transport then 800 dollars was really under paying.