CLEVELAND (WJW) – Video released to the FOX 8 I-Team shows Brook Park police busting a man for driving through a Hopkins Airport fence and shutting down the airport on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
The video also reveals the suspect’s first words to police.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Cleveland has now filed federal charges against Isaac Woolley.
Wednesday evening, a driver barreled through a fence at Hopkins Airport, and officials said he even made it onto a runway and damaged lights before getting out and taking off on foot.
Police video shows Brook Park officers rolling up to a man walking just outside the airport property.
“You all good? What happened?” an officer asked.
“I was just trying to get to my son and daughter’s down in Alabama,” the man answered.
Police then pressed on with, “OK. Were you with a car or something?”
They pointed out that they saw blood on the man, asking, “Were you in a white car?”
The man answered, “I was in a white car at one point, driving around.”
He admitted to driving a white vehicle, which was the same color as the one that had gone through the fence. It was the same color as one that had just been taken from a woman in a carjacking in Fairview Park.
So, the Brook Park officer asked, “Did you just take the car?”
At that point, the man answered, “Right now I just…”
Then, police arrested him.
The U.S. Attorney has now charged 26-year-old Isaac Woolley with entering an aircraft or airport area in violation of security requirement, carjacking and destruction of aircraft or aircraft facilities.
The criminal complaint says Woolley also knocked out power to the Hopkins Airport main radar equipment located in a tower across from the airport.
The complaint says he did damage to a power box at the top of the antenna tower. The airport then had to use a back-up system, the complaint says.
Brook Park, Fairview Park and Cleveland police all investigated.
Meanwhile, Brittany Misencik told us what it was like in the air.
Her flight into Cleveland suddenly had to go to Pittsburgh since it couldn’t land with police investigating the driver barreling into the airfield.
“Everyone was wondering, what was going on? Like, what kind of situation it was,” she said.
She added that the crew tried to update passengers, but everyone on board had so many questions.
“That was kind of scary, thinking of the situation. What if this was intentional? What if it was some kind of attack on the airport?” she said.
On Monday, we saw the scene of the latest gate crash now repaired. But, that gate is just steps away from another destroyed years ago by a driver crashing through and driving out into a secure area.
Time and again, drivers have crashed through Hopkins Airport gates in recent years. So, the I-Team and travelers are asking what’s being done about this problem.
Some of the gate-crashers have been drunk. Another drove into an airport fire station. We’ve seen people climb over airport fences and get into secure areas. Now, a driver went onto a runway.
“But, I do think they need to look at security from the other end, like, looking at it more preventatively,” Misencik said.
The I-Team will follow up on what steps might be taken to prevent more of these kinds of security breaches.