Wednesday, March 18th 2015, 2:24 pm
A witness said a man who rammed through gates at Tulsa International Airport, seemed intoxicated and aggressive. He said he saw the man before it happened and tried to warn police.
Minutes before the security breach, video shows the man yelling “I need to go to the airport.”
We're told the man first got into the secured part of the airport and had access to the main runway and all the planes once inside the fence, which is a scary thought for some.
A driver with dash cam video pulled a U-turn on Highway 75 near 36th Street North, and a man approached.
You can barely hear the suspect say "I want to go to the airport and see my daughter."
The driver takes off, and heads to the nearby police station to warn them about the weird encounter.
The suspect follows then leaves, but his day of bizarre behavior is just beginning.
Airport spokesperson, Alexis Higgins, said the same man rammed through four gates at Tulsa International Airport Wednesday afternoon and took a joy ride on runways and taxiways.
"He definitely appeared to be intoxicated, but at this time, we really don't know what his motivation was," she said.
Airport police said he started on the south side of the airport, tearing down two gates in his Ford Explorer.
Police said he then drove up to the north end of the airport, where he broke another gate. Then, they said, he drove through several streets and broke yet another gate - this one near the control tower.
That's when airport police put him in handcuffs, and TSA officers got to question him.
People at the airport, like Patrick Hoey, had their own questions, like, is it terrorism?
"When you hear three gates, or four gates, going down at once, you think there's some kind of attack going on. Fortunately it wasn't. Sounds like it was some kind of misguided individual," Hoey said.
He works in the hangar next to one of the broken gates and he was impressed by security's quick response.
“Crazy people are going to do stuff. I think the gates are pretty secure," he said.
The gates are now more secure with concrete barricade reinforcement.
The man, who left the airport on a stretcher with chest pains, could face federal charges.
He is in the hospital and expected to be booked into the Tulsa County Jail.
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