Philadelphia Airport Driver Was Going 100 MPH - East Idaho News
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Philadelphia Airport Driver Was Going 100 MPH

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Getty 030212 CarChaseiStockphoto?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1330723619461File photo. iStockphoto/Thinkstock(PHILADELPHIA) — The man who disrupted Philadelphia’s airport by darting onto the runway in his car, reached speeds up to 100 mph as a plane was about to land, according to an affidavit filed by an arresting FBI agent.

The affidavit was filed along with the federal arrest warrant for Kenneth Richard Mazik, 24, of Chadds Ford, Pa.

Mazik has been charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia in a criminal complaint with an act of violence at an international airport for driving onto the airport, then allegedly injuring two officers as they tried to put him into a holding cell.

The affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Megan MacDonald states that Mazik was seen watching the airport runway in a black Jeep Grand Cherokee next to an airport gate.

“As an airplane approached the airport in a final descent for landing, the driver suddenly accelerated, then charged the gate in the perimeter fence in his Jeep Grand Cherokee. The driver crashed his Cherokee through the locked gate as the aircraft approached the runway,” MacDonald wrote.

The court document claims he sped down runway 9R “at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.”

“As the driver did so, the approaching airplane was still descending for landing from behind the Cherokee on that same runway,” the affidavit said.

The incoming plane was quickly told to abort its landing.

“Airport personnel have estimated that the airplane was approximately 500 feet above the runway when it was diverted and placed in a holding pattern,” MacDonald wrote in the affidavit.

After a pursuit of over five minutes, which caused havoc and concern among air traffic controls and pilots, Mazik was stopped by Philadelphia Police Department officers on a taxiway adjacent to runway 27R at the airport.

“Seventy-five aircraft were placed in a holding pattern and 80 aircraft were prevented from departing at their scheduled times. This caused significant disruption to the operation and services of the airport and caused financial expense and losses,” the affidavit states.

“I further submit that by driving his Cherokee onto the runway in front of an approaching aircraft, Mazik endangered the safety of the passengers and crew of that aircraft,” the federal agent wrote.

Mazik allegedly injured two officers after he was detained and attempted to be placed into a holding cell.

“When police officers later attempted to place the subject in a holding cell at the airport, the subject became combative and resisted the officers, causing injury to two of the officers,” the affidavit noted.

If convicted Mazik faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

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