Pilot takes keys of accused drunk driver blocking planes on runway, Oklahoma cops say
.jpeg "The driver blew a .34 on a breathalyzer test —")
A woman is accused of driving drunk around an airport and blocking planes from landing and taking off, Oklahoma authorities said.
Officers responded Sept. 28 to the Tulsa Riverside Airport about a woman driving a Nissan on the taxiways, blocking the paths of several planes trying to take off, according to a Sept. 30 news release from the Tulsa Police Department.
However, police said when they arrived, they could not find the vehicle.
Officers were called back to the airport the next day at about 6 p.m. on a report from Air Traffic Control about a “possible drunk driver” in a silver Nissan blocking the runway where a plane was trying to land, police said.
When officers arrived, they spoke with a pilot who said he was taxiing his airplane when he came upon a woman “stopped in the middle of the ramp,” according to authorities.
After getting out of his plane and trying to get the woman to move, he told police he “saw beer cans and could smell alcohol,” police said.
The pilot reached into the SUV to turn it off, took the keys and called 911, police said.
Officers found a case of Coors Light, 18 empty beer cans and a trash bag full of beer cans inside the SUV, police said.
The driver, who told police she was visiting family at a hangar, blew a .34 on a breathalyzer test — “more than four times the legal limit,” police said.
She was arrested on an aggravated DUI charge and taken to a hospital for treatment, according to police.
This story was originally published October 1, 2024 at 8:53 AM with the headline "Pilot takes keys of accused drunk driver blocking planes on runway, Oklahoma cops say."
