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CLEVELAND – The Fox 8 I-Team has learned a 26-year-old man was taken into custody after an incident that shut down Cleveland Hopkins International Airport for a brief time Wednesday evening.
Fairview Park police confirm the man is in their custody and charges are expected to be filed soon.
The man was driving a vehicle that was stolen out of Fairview Park. Police say the vehicle was stolen from a woman who had gotten out of her car in a parking lot on Brookpark road to look for her lost pet, according to a police report.
The woman tried to get back in her car as it drove away. She was allegedly knocked to the ground and injured.
Hopkins officials took to Twitter Wednesday night, confirming that a suspect drove through an airfield gate at the airport.
The spokesperson told the I-Team that, after breaching the gate, the suspect drove onto the runway, damaging lights. The suspect then abandoned the vehicle and took off on foot.
During the search for the suspect, Cleveland police also got help from Brook Park police. Brook Park officers found the suspect walking just outside airport property. They arrested him and turned him over to Fairview Park police since the entire incident began with a crime there.
The incident temporarily shut down the airport on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
One passenger on a plane diverted to Pittsburgh told the I-Team her plane was low on fuel. And, it wasn’t until the plane got to Pittsburgh that passengers received some word of what was going on at the Cleveland Airport.