Posted on: Sunday, August 29, 2004
Fleeing driver crashes through gate at airport
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
A 17-year-old driver being pursued by a sheriff's deputy yesterday morning crashed his Mitsubishi through a back gate at the Honolulu airport and drove onto a flight line used for general aviation.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser Injuries to the airport employee and the sheriff's deputy appeared to be minor, Ishikawa said.
Emergency Service workers said they took one person to The Queen's Medical Center with injuries that were not serious.
The airplane that was damaged, a small private craft, was parked when it was hit.
The teenager did not drive onto the runway, Ishikawa said, and although aircraft on the general aviation side of the airport were prohibited from taking off for several hours while deputies and Honolulu police investigated, operations on the main part of the airport were not disrupted.
Ishikawa said the trouble began at around 11:30 a.m. when a sheriff's deputy on Lagoon Drive noticed the teenager driving erratically and tried to pull him over. The youth sped away, Ishikawa said.
The teenager drove to the end of Lagoon Drive and crashed through a gate into a secured area, then drove around on the flight line near general aviation hangars, hitting the plane, the cart and the deputy's car.
The youth hurt his foot while trying to escape, and was treated for a minor injury, according to Ishikawa.
The teenager, who appeared intoxicated, hit a small airplane, an employee on a golf cart and a sheriff's deputy's car, said Scott Ishikawa, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
Law enforcement officers converged upon an airport area between two hangars where a youth, 17, forced his car through a back gate.
