Viral Video: Man Hops Security Fence At San Francisco Airport
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SAN FRANCISCO (CBSDFW.COM) -- Video of a man who breached security at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on Wednesday has gone viral.
Cell phone video from the incident looks like something out of a movie. It shows police on the airport tarmac chasing a man in a grey top who apparently had just hopped a security fence.
The man didn't give up that easily. He bolted and officers spend the next 90 seconds trying to corral him. At one point an officer opened a passenger door and almost hit him.
Another police SUV also nearly hit the man, but he dodged out of the way just in time.
SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel said it all began a few minutes earlier at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter at terminal one. "What began was a police response to an individual who appeared to be under the influence of a substance," said Yakel.
Witnesses said the man was sitting on some benches with a beanie nearly pulled over his eyes, acting erratically.
Southwest agents called security then the man took off running down the terminal. According to witnesses he jumped over line dividers like an Olympic hurdler. Officers tried to jump them too, but tripped and fell.
The man ran outside through traffic and jumped from the upper level, down to the lower level
about 30 feet and he kept on running.
"Who survives that kind of thing? Someone who's crazy. Someone who has no fear. Adrenaline kicks and gets you going," said Dan Callies, a traveler who was at the airport at the time.
The man finally gave up on the tarmac and laid on the ground, where officers arrested him.
It's not clear how he got onto the tarmac, but his hands were cut, so officials speculate he may have injured them on barb or razor wire.
"Every incident like this, every access control event as we call it, is a learning opportunity as well," said Yakel. "We're focused on continuous improvements so we want to learn what we can from this incident and that will be our focus moving forward."
The person who shot the video wished not to be identified.
Southwest Airlines is based of Dallas.
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