Earlier this year an American Airlines employee drove a van off a parking structure in Miami but didn’t go anywhere near the runways. A year earlier a man on a bicycle stole a van, drove to the airport, and jumped onto a plane’s wing in order to try to steal it.
Another man stole an SUV, used it to breach an airport perimeter, and entered an empty plane in order to escape from the zombie apocalypse.
Credit: Peoria County Jail
Still someone else stole a pizza delivery truck because he needed a ride to the airport. He wasn’t charged, because we’ve all been there, right? There was no Uber in town, it’s not a felony since he didn’t intend to keep the car, and police didn’t want to be bothered with a misdemeanor.
Pizza Hut didn’t owe the offender a refund, since their vehicle delivered him to the airport within half an hour.
So it doesn’t even surprise me anymore when a man crashed a car through the airport and drove onto the runway in Lyon, France.
🔴 Un individu en voiture s’est introduit sur les pistes de l’aéroport de #Lyon! Course poursuite avec les forces de l’ordre! #lyonaeroport @BFMTV @CNEWS @TF1 pic.twitter.com/ED2BXhFmOB
— D@vid (@DavidPeste) September 10, 2018
Twenty police vehicles along with a helicopter were deployed in the chase. Inbound aircraft were diverted and more than 80 flights were cancelled at the airport.
The man is then seen almost crashing into an embankment and then fleeing on foot as he is eventually swarmed by police, despite his best efforts to outrun them.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes police proceeded to arrest the man but have not yet disclosed what he is being charged with. Nobody was reported injured at the scene.
(HT: Emily McNutt)
The trouble is that most of these incidents owe much to Laurel and Hardy type escapades but sadly some are far more serious and it’s impossible to know at the outset which will turn into which. It does seem (I hope and pray) that the ultra-organized 9/11 type incidents are being thwarted before they get anywhere, but lone wolf / mad person type incidents are taking their place. And, sadly, a mad person with guns, or trucks, can be extremely dangerous.
Who are Laurel and Hardy? What’s their twitter account? Facebook address? Instagram? 😉
Looks like a scene from Taken 3.
Was there this much craziness 50 years ago? Maybe it just gets more attention these days.
A high point of having roommates in college was KTLA. Seemed like every time I went home from class they’d be on the couch watching KTLA (with no network affiliate but they DID have a helicopter) car chases. One day they were watching a chase as I left for class. 5 hours later I returned, they were watching the same car chase.