A Canadian passenger was arrested this morning after he got onto the tarmac at Orlando International Airport, hopped aboard a luggage tug then drove away, authorities report.
No one was injured, officials report.
The man was preparing to board a United Airlines flight to Chicago then transfer to Canada when the incident began, according to the Orlando Police Department.
“The United Airlines staff felt that he was behaving erratically,” said airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell. “They denied him boarding.”
He pushed his way onto the jetway anyway, according to police spokeswoman Michelle Guido.
When he got to the end, he opened an emergency door and climbed down to the tarmac, where he commandeered a luggage tug and drove across the airport, Fennell said.
It was not immediately clear how far he drove or how long he was on the loose.
Fennell said he stayed on a taxiway and did not venture onto any of the airport’s runways.
Members of the airport’s ground crew saw what was happening and followed him in a vehicle, Fennell said.
He stopped at an airport fire station, where a fireman apprehended him, she said. Orlando police officers then took him into custody.
His name was not available.
Fennell said the incident did not cause any flight delays. It did cause a “ground hold” for jetliners in the immediate area.
Fennell said the man had earlier gone through an airport security checkpoint.
Orlando Sentinel
