Driver plows through fences at Hopkins Airport: I-Team

CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has found a driver plowed through multiple fences at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport , but so much about this case is not that unusual.

Monday afternoon, SkyFox HD captured a long path of damage.

Police said a woman having some kind of crisis with kids in her car barreled through a secure area of the airport off limits to the public.

Some initial Cleveland police dispatch radio traffic revealed, “a large, loud bang was heard. Just trying to figure out what was going on.”

As it happened, airport worker Adam Janis recorded video.

“I saw her plow through the fence going like 80 or 90 through this construction part,” he told the I-Team. “I was in utter disbelief. I’m like, she’s got to stop eventually. Then, she blew through that fence.”

The driver didn’t stop until she made it to the I-X Center.

“I was like, ‘hey, you’ve got to stop. I got help on the way.’ Then, I saw the two kids in the back seat. They were crying,” Janis said.

More police radio traffic indicated, “she seems to be in crisis. Won’t let go of her kids.”

Time and time again, in recent years, we’ve shown you drivers going through Hopkins Airport fences, or we’ve seen intruders found behind those fences after getting through.

Last August, a woman wandered the airfield for hours. Police also found her to be in some kind of crisis. Body camera video shows an officer could not even communicate with her.

This problem actually came up a few months ago at a city council hearing. Council members asked why so many people crash through Hopkins Airport fences. An airport official said there’s no simple, clear explanation. It happens for a lot of different reasons.

In fact, the city just released other police body camera video from last summer when another person got through an airport gate. Another person in crisis.

In the latest case, multiple ambulances showed up to check out the driver and the kids.

The airport stopped flights out for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, that witness we spoke to wonders what really led to this.

“I feel bad for the kids. Honestly, that’s what I feel bad for,” Janis said.

The driver did not make it out to any runways. She ended up getting taken to a hospital.

We will check back on the investigation.

In some of these cases, we’ve seen no charges filed. We’ve also seen federal charges filed or county charges filed. The intruder last August got indicted on county charges, but that case is on hold while the suspect undergoes mental health treatment.

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