A man who crashed into a Detroit Metro Airport terminal this past Friday informed police that he was there to “meet Tom Cruise and save his dad.”
The crash occurred at approximately 9:30 a.m. at the airport when, according to the police, the driver in a Cadillac SUV drove in the wrong direction down Rogell Drive. He reportedly drove slowly between the barricades outside the terminal and into its front door, stopping just before a security checkpoint.
According to Tadarial Sturdivant, senior vice president of emergency and support services at the Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA), the driver informed officers that he was at the airport to meet actor Tom Cruise and to save his father. He did not make clear whether he was referring to his own father or the actor’s dad.
Around 9:40 a.m., police took the unidentified motorist into custody. The individual appeared “disoriented” following the crash, according to the authorities. The Wayne County Airport Authority said that following the incident, authorities took him to the hospital.
“The vehicle was driven over the curb, in a gap between the barriers protecting the doorways,” the WCAA wrote in a statement.
The crash knocked the terminal entrance’s metal doors loose from their hinges and scattered glass across the ground. The incident temporarily shut down the area around the crash
Only one person suffered a minor injury
Airport police officers swept the area for explosives and discovered no weapons or explosives on the driver or in the vehicle, according to the police. Authorities also stated that there was no proof that the driver had any intention of harming anyone.
Other than a woman who sustained a minor injury to her leg while attempting to escape being hit by the car, no one was hurt. According to airport officials, she declined medical attention and instead continued on and boarded her flight.
Another traveler, according to The Detroit News,went through a checkpoint without being properly screened because of the incident.
“Officers apprehended the ticketed passenger very quickly and determined he was startled by the car coming into the terminal, dropped his baggage and luggage right there at the vehicle and went into the checkpoint,” said Tadarial Sturdivant, Wayne County Airport Authority’s senior vice president of emergency and support services.
Police interviewed the traveler and released him without issuing a citation, as they determined that he was trying to avoid the crash.
This sort of thing has happened before
According to the Detroit Free Press, this was the second time this year that a driver crashed into a Detroit Metro Airport terminal. In January, a man drove his Mercedes through Detroit Metro Airport’s McNamara Terminal and was arrested.
“Wait, again?” Mary Teneyuque of Saginaw asked as she walked past the damaged terminal on Friday, according to The Detroit News. “Didn’t this happen before?”