Mr Davis posted a statement on his Instagram account, saying his son asked for a cup of ice during the flight's beverage service.
Mr Davis said he tried to get the crew member's attention by “gently tapping” his arm to pull his son out of the ice, but heard the crew member respond with “don't hit me!”
According to the Instagram account, the flight attendant got off the cart and went to the front of the plane.
“I was confused, and the passengers in front of me witnessed the exchange,” Mr. Davis wrote. “I didn’t think anything of it other than that this particular employee was incredibly rude and blatantly wrong in his accusation that I had hit him.”
Mr. Davis said that when the plane landed at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, he and other passengers were told to remain seated. Then FBI agents and local authorities boarded the plane, handcuffed him in front of his wife and three children, and took him off the plane.
“All the passengers watched in silence,” he said.
