Intoxicated Driver Enters Phoenix Runway
What: unauthorized vehicle
Where: Phoenix Sky Harbor
When: Nov 16, 2012
Who: 2 aboard
Why: Reports say that Koko Nicole Anderson was intoxicated on drugs when the car she was driving barged through a partially closed gate and onto a runway while driving with her two month old child in the car. The gate was being tested when Anderson drove through it. She struck a portable toilet and kept driving until an officer rammed her car.
Anderson’s mother says the girl was not on drugs but suffering from bi-polar disorder.
The intoxicated driver with a history of mental illness was taken into custody, and booked into jail on aggravated DUI and criminal damage charges.
An expert determined that the intoxication was related to drugs instead of alcohol. In order to safeguard planes from being either accidentally or intentionally struck by misguided drivers, the airport is considering beefing up security with airport gates that include additional pop-up barriers.