His reports were probably that it was just a defiant and belligerent passenger that needed to be removed, without understanding the context of why that would anger people. So his first response was basically gasoline on the fire that made it sound like they were digging in their heels and would do it again.

I'm sure there will be some interesting lessons that come from this on how corporations handle customer backlash in the age of social media. You would think that companies could get it right these days, but they still manage to screw it up.