U.S.

Pot Falls From Sky In Detroit

April 20, 1998 / 4:00 PM EDT / AP

A small plane loaded with marijuana crashed in a ballpark after being trailed by Customs agents for 1,500 miles. When some residents saw they couldn't help the dying pilot, they apparently helped themselves to some of the stash.

Gloria Johnson said she heard a boom, saw the plane hit a tree and then crash Sunday into a west Detroit ball field next to a junior high school. She said the pilot was still alive when neighbors ran to help.

"There were big bundles of drugs and money all around the plane," Johnson said. "The bundles of marijuana looked like two big suitcases."

Johnson said she saw people leave the scene with some of the packages.

"A couple of guys came to help, then grabbed the bags of drugs and left," Johnson said.

Authorities are investigating whether anything was removed from the crash site, Customs Service special agent John Holmes said Monday.

At a news conference, Holmes displayed 408 pounds of marijuana that was recovered from the plane. Agents also played a videotape from an aircraft that was trailing the plane.

Holmes said the 66-year-old pilot, who died in the crash, had two different pieces of identification. One identified him as being from Indianlantic, Fla., the other said he was from Vancouver, British Columbia.

Three Customs Service planes followed the homemade plane after it crossed the Mexican border Sunday morning near Big Bend National Park, near El Paso, Texas.

"They began following it covertly, I want to emphasize covertly," Customs spokesman Vince Bond said. "We can't shoot them down, we don't shoot them down, we don't ever force aircraft down. It's unsafe."

The pilot apparently ran low on fuel and the plane started to break up before crashing, Fire Chief Lee Moore said. Officials believe the pilot might have been trying to escape to Canada.

"I'm assuming in his desperation there was an attempt to stop in this field," Moore said.

As Customs agents removed bundles of cash and marijuana from the scene, police officers searched an area several blocks wide for parts of the plane and other evidence.