Police Ram Truck to Stop Car Chase at Sky Harbor Airport

June 30, 2005
The driver drove the truck through a fence and onto an airport runway. The truck eventually tore through another fence, which remained wrapped around the vehicle as police stopped it.

PHOENIX (AP) -- Police used patrol cars as battering rams to stop a pickup truck that led officers on a chase Thursday that ended at Sky Harbor International Airport.

The chase began in northwest Phoenix as officers responded to a call of a stolen pickup truck, said police spokesman Sgt. Randy Force.

The driver drove the truck through a fence and onto an airport runway, Force said.

The truck eventually tore through another fence, which remained wrapped around the vehicle as police stopped it.

Sky Harbor officials released a statement saying air traffic controllers stopped air traffic for a few minutes at one point during the chase.

Airport operations were back to normal by late Thursday morning.