Passenger steals and crashes airport vehicle on California tarmac

A airline passenger made it onto the tarmac at John Wayne Airport in California on Tuesday night, stole an airport tug and crashed it, UPI and The New York Times reported. According to The New York Times, the incident briefly disrupted operations at the airport, which is located in Santa Ana. [1][2][3]

An airport spokesperson told KLTA-TV, as reported by UPI, that the 26-year-old man was booked on a Delta Airlines flight to Seattle. Instead of boarding, he exited through a terminal door to reach the airfield. UPI reported that the man stole an Alaska Airlines tug, which is a vehicle used to pull luggage trailers, and drove it around before hitting another vehicle. [1]

Authorities stated that after crashing the luggage tug, the passenger attempted to steal another vehicle, UPI reported. UPI noted that he tried to commandeer an American Airlines lavatory services truck before he was stopped. [1]

Alaska Airlines is headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, and operates a major network primarily connecting cities along the West Coast of the United States. As FTMQ News reported earlier, tarmac incidents in California included a collision on Tuesday morning between a Delta Air Lines jet and an Air Canada plane at Los Angeles International Airport. [5][8]