Delta Tug Drivers Help Stop Driver

April 9, 2013
Man arrested for driving past checkpoint at DTW.

April 05--A 25-year-old man is in police custody after driving past a secure checkpoint Friday at Detroit Metro Airport.

The man jumped out of his vehicle and ran into a Delta Airlines cargo building before he was arrested, said airport spokesman Michael Conway.

"It would be total speculation to guess what this person's intent was," he said.

Conway said the man, who was driving a green, older model Buick Regal, followed closely behind a fuel hauler that had been cleared shortly after 6 p.m. to go through a checkpoint on the north side of the airport. The arm of the security gate came back down just after the car had passed through, Conway said. A security guard at the checkpoint immediately called police.

Conway said the man drove a few hundred feet before two Delta employees driving tugs were able to block his car and angle it toward the cargo building. The man jumped out of his car and ran inside the building, Conway said. The employees chased him and held him until airport police arrived.

Conway said the man struggled with officers when they tried to handcuff him.

At some point, the man suffered a cut above an eye that required stitches. Conway said he was being treated Friday night at a hospital. No one else was injured.

"The police checked his vehicle," Conway said. "There was some trash in his vehicle. But there was no bomb -- nothing explosive, nothing hazardous."

Authorities did not immediately release the man's name. Conway said he lives in the metro Detroit area.

The man's vehicle was towed away from the scene.

The incident remains under investigation.

Copyright 2013 - Detroit Free Press