“A man who appeared to be under the influence of some substance” led police on a wild chase after he “breached a secure area at San Francisco International Airport Wednesday.”
The man ran onto a tarmac in San Francisco and hopped a security fence with police officers following his trail, KPIX reported.
After he hopped the fence, the man made a run for it while officers spent about 90 seconds trying to catch him. A police SUV even came close to hitting the man.
SFO spokesman Doug Yakel said the incident began “at the Southwest ticket counter at Terminal One.”
“[It] was a police response to an individual who appeared to be under the influence of a substance,” Yakel said. Witnesses reported that the man had been “making odd, jerking motions with his head” while sitting on a bench at the terminal.
Southwest agents called security, but the man took off and crossed the dividers, while police who tried to do the same tripped attempting to catch him.
“The man then ran outside through traffic and jumped from the upper level down to the lower level – a height of about 30 feet” down to the tarmac. He eventually he got down on the ground and police officers were able to arrest him.
Police at other airports across the country have also had to deal with chasing down people who have breached security.
In August, a man breached security at an airport in Omaha, Nebraska, and stole a truck, crashing it into a Southwest Airlines plane.
In 2013, a man breached security at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport when he bolted through a checkpoint, ran out onto the tarmac, and broke a window before getting into an empty American Airlines plane.
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