United passenger's lawyer says he's gotten emails comparing client to Rosa Parks

An attorney for David Dao, the doctor who was dragged off a United flight this week, said during a news conference that he received an email from someone who likened his client to Rosa Parks.

Lawyer Thomas Demetrio said Dao 69, remains hospitalized with a concussion, broken nose, damaged sinuses, and other injuries that included the loss of two teeth following the incident.

"Dr. Dao, I believe to his great credit, has come to understand that he is the guy, the guy to stand up for all passengers going forward," lawyer Thomas Demetrio said during a news conference Thursday. Demetrio said someone emailed him that Dao refusing to give up his seat made him the “Asian version of Rosa Parks," but he added that he didn't think what happened to Dao was racially motivated and could have happened to anyone.

On social media, some have already compared Dao, who is Vietnamese and was chosen to give up his seat but refused, to Rosa Parks, while others slammed the comparison.

"David Dao was like the Asian Rosa Parks but more brutal," Twitter user @yolksoup tweeted on Tuesday.

Others tweeted that Dao should not be compared to Rosa Parks. "Literally no correlation at all between Rosa Parks incident and the Asian dude getting thrown off the plane," @cjballin1 tweeted.

In the past, people have compared others to Rosa Parks, who was arrested after refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a city bus, though those comparisons typically stemmed from political action. In September, the president of the NAACP said Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the national anthem was like the stance that Rosa Parks took when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus. In 2015, many were shocked when Rowan County, Ky., clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, was compared to Rosa Parks.

"Kim Davis is our Rosa Parks," wrote syndicated Christian columnist Bryan Fischer on the website of the conservative American Family Association in 2015.

United Airlines has faced fierce criticism in the days after video emerged of Dao being violently dragged off a flight from Chicago.

United spokesman Jonathan Guerin said all 70 seats on the Louisville-bound flight were filled when four passengers were told they had to give up their seats to accommodate crew members needed in Louisville the next day. The passengers were selected based on a combination of criteria spelled out in United’s contract of carriage, including frequent-flier status, fare type, check-in time and connecting flight implications, among others, according to United.

Three passengers went quietly. Dao balked, Chicago aviation authorities were called, and Dao was physically removed in an incident which was caught on video.

Demetrio said a lawsuit will be filed at some point.

More coverage: 

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Fliers' rights: You have fewer than you think

United Airlines under fire after man is dragged off overbooked flight

Contributing: John Bacon