A 17-year-old girl was arrested after allegedly stealing a $2 million plane and driving it into an airport building in California
By Bill Bostock, Business Insider
A 17-year-old girl was arrested after police say she stole a private plane, drove it along a runway, then crashed it at a California airport.
Security footage taken at Fresno Yosemite International Airport on Wednesday, and broadcast by local news station ABC30, shows the aircraft, a King Air 200 plane, veering across the runway then hitting a building.
Airport spokeswoman Vikkie Calderon told The Fresno Bee that the perpetrator jumped the airport fence, got into the plane, put on the pilot’s headset, and started one of its two engines.
The girl then drove the plane erratically around the runway before crashing it into a building, causing “substantial damage,” Calderon said.
No passengers were on the plane and no injuries were reported.
“No passengers or commercial airlines were ever at risk in this incident,” Calderon said. “The motive is still under investigation but there is no indication of any ties to domestic terrorism.”
The police were called and arrested the girl at around 7:30 a.m, Calderon said. Officers found the girl “disoriented” and “uncooperative.”
The crashed plane at Fresno Yosemite International Airport on Wednesday.
Airport officials are none the wiser as to how the teen managed to get into the plane and start the engines.
“That’s still under investigation. We’re not certain how she was able to accomplish those things,” airport police chief Drew Bessinger told ABC30.
The teen was booked into Fresno County Juvenile Hall, on suspicion of theft of an aircraft.