"Fort Wayne airport runway closed after driver crashes through gate"

Wednesday, July 16, 2003

Fort Wayne airport runway closed after driver crashes through gate
The Associated Press


FORT WAYNE, IND. -- Authorities closed the main runway at Fort Wayne
International Airport after a motorist crashed through a gate and drove onto
the runway.

An employee of an air service tried to stop the woman when he saw her
driving on a taxiway about 2 a.m. Tuesday, but the driver backed up and
started down the airport's 12,000-long main runway, according to a report.

The woman stopped after airport security took over the pursuit. The driver,
identified as 32-year-old Lesley Alspach of Roanoke, told an officer she did
not know where she was or how she got there, the report said.

Investigators later found Alspach had crashed through a fence on a steep
turn on Indianapolis Road that has been the scene of previous accidents,
said airport spokeswoman Sandra Lux.

Alspach was arrested on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated,
driving while suspended and violating federal aviation law. Fort Wayne
police said her blood-alcohol level tested at 0.16 percent, twice Indiana's
legal limit of 0.08 percent.

The main runway was closed for about 90 minutes after the intrusion, Lux
said. No passenger flights were scheduled at that hour and cargo flights
were not affected, she said.

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