A 67-year-old man is in custody after a vehicle crashed into the Evans Terminal at Detroit Metro Airport on Friday morning, May 29.
It’s the second such incident at the airport in Romulus this year.
Tadarial Sturdivant, senior vice president of emergency and support services for the Wayne County Airport Authority, said the man told authorities he was there “because Tom Cruise was flying in; he wanted to save his dad.”
Sturdivant said the man drove the vehicle at a slow speed through a gap in bollards in front of the terminal that are required under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He drove it through the terminal doors and stopped in a hallway.
Sturdivant said one woman reported pain in her leg as she ran from the advancing vehicle. She refused treatment and boarded her flight as scheduled.
Operations have returned to normal at the Evans Terminal. An investigation is continuing. Sturdivant said the FBI and the U.S. Transportation Security Administration are on the scene.
Sturdivant added the crash differs from another crash on Jan. 23 because the motorist in the earlier incident was driving at a high rate of speed.
In the earlier case, the motorist crashed into the McNamara Terminal, injuring six people. None required hospitalization.
Airport police submitted a request to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office to pursue charges against the motorist. It is unknown if charges were ever issued. Reports at the time stated the prosecutor’s office was waiting for the results of a psychiatric exam of the man before proceeding.
Authorities say the motorist involved in the Jan. 23 crash has mental health issues; police said there was no evidence the incident was related to terrorism.
The airport authority installed 9,000-pound concrete barriers at the departure and arrival levels of the McNamara and Evans terminals. Additional safety measures were planned, but officials did not release details.