Connahan says the man was taken into custody and then to a hospital for an evaluation. Eppley Airfield Police Chief Tim Connahan says it started near the parking garage with a man shouting that someone was trying to hurt or kill him. He took off his trousers and shirt and got into a Southwest Airlines pickup in only his boxers, police added.
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The plane was loading for takeoff at Eppley Airfield outside Omaha on Thursday night when a truck driven by Dealario Koonce, 35, struck the plane’s nose gear, police said. Conahan says the man climbed a perimeter fence, and ran into a building area. Undeterred, he doubled back and drove under the jet bridge of a Southwest aircraft that was boarding passengers, crashing into its nose gear, said Conahan.
He added that airport security personnel had noticed a man “acting in a freaky manner” near the perimeter of the airport.
“You could see the truck, a few police cars – and by then, he had already been apprehended and taken into one of the police vehicles”, said Conahan.
Conahan says no major injuries were reported, but the pilot and a flight attendant suffered minor injuries, but should be OK.
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Police said there was no suggestion this was a terrorist incident. The FBI will determine in federal charges will need to be filed.
