ROMULUS, Mich. — Morning travelers at Detroit Metropolitan Airport experienced a frightening scene Friday when a confused elderly man drove his SUV directly through the terminal entrance doors, according to airport officials.
The 67-year-old motorist was taken into custody immediately after his vehicle came to a stop, according to Tadarial Sturdivant, vice president of emergency and support services.
Sturdivant described the driver as appearing “very disoriented” and making strange claims about being there to meet actor Tom Cruise and “to save his dad.”
“It is hard for me to put semblance behind it,” Sturdivant said.
One woman who tried to get out of the vehicle’s path suffered a potential leg injury but refused medical attention, officials reported.
According to Sturdivant, the vehicle had been moving in the wrong direction outside the Evans Terminal before managing to fit through spaces between concrete barriers at the entrance.
Those openings in the barriers are mandated by federal rules, Sturdivant explained. He noted that the suburban Detroit airport is currently developing plans for a redesign.
“It was scary, man, like, we didn’t know what to do,” Sedeq Arshuhtpi, who works at the airport, told WDIV-TV. “We don’t know what’s inside that car. There’s a lot of people around. There could be a threat, so everybody was nervous.”
This marks the second vehicle incident at the airport this year. In January, another motorist crashed into the airport’s McNamara Terminal at high speed, then got out of his car shouting incomprehensibly before being arrested.
