Incident at Cork airport

rebel girl 15

Apparently a guy cut loose on the tarmac of Cork airport and pulled one of the fire officers out of his fire jeep and went off with that before crashing into a luggage trolley. They caught him and the Gardai have him in custody - was pretty tense as there were two aircraft on the tarmac at the time, one of which was boarding - lot of damage done, but nothing to the planes

Oscar Bravo

On the Six One news now.

Storm 10

Unreal footage of that idiot at Cork Airport on the news, if that had happened when the Quen was there it would have been a disaster, hope the injured Garda are ok.

Turner

A man is in custody in Cork this evening following a series of incidents which saw a garda slashed in the face and a stolen vehicle driven on the apron at the city's airport.

Eyewitnesses said the series of events began in the city centre at around 5pm this evening, when the garda was slashed in the face with a knife by a man in his 40s.

The suspect subsequently stole the garda's Traffic Corps jeep and drove it to the airport at high speed, forcing shoppers and motorists to flee in terror.

The vehicle is believed to have been driven through security gates onto the airfield. A fire truck was then stolen and driven around the apron, ramming a number of garda cars before coming to a halt beside a plane.

The incident unfolded in front of startled passengers who watched the drama from inside the terminal building.

Members of the garda's armed Regional Support Unit at the scene finally subdued the driver, using tasers in the process, and he was taken into custody. He is being held under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

An investigation into the incident is underway.

The wounded officer's injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/man-arrested-following-cork-airport-rampage-506018.html#ixzz1N6UPWNOC

A320

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0522/cork.html

video here from inside terminal,crazy mofo

North Face

Well done to all the Airport Police and Gardai in Cork involved in safely bringing an end to this chaps crazy rampage! This is real life not GTA!

Another example of the Airport Police Fire Service and Gardai dealing with a serious incident this year in Cork!

Speedy recovery to all those injured.

Wolfe Tone

Jesus sounds like something out of GTA

TW Mr Tayto

North Face wrote: »

Well done to all the Airport Police and Gardai in Cork involved in safely bringing an end to this chaps crazy rampage! This is real life not GTA!

Another example of the Airport Police Fire Service and Gardai dealing with a serious incident this year in Cork!

Speedy recovery to all those injured.

I'm glad this ended the way it did; but the irony that he was caught because the Airport Police jeep BROKE DOWN, is unreal.

SNAKEDOC

on the video it looks like he just stopped. can you imagine been the gardai running around the car trying to keep out of the firing line.

North Face

It broke down after ramming a Garda TC jeep and being rammed by a Airport Police Skoda response car seen below.

Today was a test of bravery of members of both Police Services. well done again to all involved!



Members of the Gardai and Cork Airport Police after the incident

David086

Christ, only in Ireland lol.

Bill G

Nope, not only in Ireland....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mddkL3DmYE

Stinicker

This could have been a disaster, all the people who board planes walking out and then up the steps instead of using the jetway, even when its raining! If it happened in Dublin with Obama around or HRH he'd probably be shot by special agents and would be nothing less than he deserves.

As North Face said it is totally straight out of GTA4 and I have gone on manys a rampage around liberty city airport, I wonder if it inspired the cretin!

BrianD

Full marks to the emergency services involved and their bravery in stopping this chap.

However, let's not get distracted from the fact that there's been a major security breach at many levels. Serious questions have to be asked how one emergency vehicle can be comandeered in a city, driven through airport security and then swapped for another emergency services vehicle. This is particularly embarrassing coming 2 days after the Royal departure. I'm surprised Sky aren't all over this.

It isn't good enough for an international airport.

rebel girl 15

North Face wrote: »

It broke down after ramming a Garda TC jeep and being rammed by a Airport Police Skoda response car seen below.

Today was a test of bravery of members of both Police Services. well done again to all involved!

Tyres also blew out - it took heavy damage in the second crash after which it stopped. Tyres were reported to be smoking with the speed this guy was going at. Started throwing this out onto the runway as well

BrianD wrote: »

Full marks to the emergency services involved and their bravery in stopping this chap.

However, let's not get distracted from the fact that there's been a major security breach at many levels. Serious questions have to be asked how one emergency vehicle can be comandeered in a city, driven through airport security and then swapped for another emergency services vehicle. This is particularly embarrassing coming 2 days after the Royal departure. I'm surprised Sky aren't all over this.

It isn't good enough for an international airport.

He had been stopped in the city, and slashed the Garda in the face in the middle of Patrick Street, then made off with his vehicle. He then threatened a member of the airport police with the knife, and took his vehicle.

The airport was locked down when the Queen was leaving, it would never have happened as the roads leading to the airport were blocked off, with a load of Gardai around, he'd have been stopped well before the airport

The car he took in the city was a jeep, which would be easy enough to ram through the security fencing around the old terminal, not the new one. Not sure if there is road access to it, but he went through some fencing with the Garda jeep. The fire brigade are still located by the old terminal building, which is how he got the other one.

He could have headed for a plane, or worse a fuel tank and crash into it - it was pure luck that there wasn't fatalities from today, because if he had hit a fuel tank, there would be deaths, one plane was boarding

BrianD

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

He had been stopped in the city, and slashed the Garda in the face in the middle of Patrick Street, then made off with his vehicle. He then threatened a member of the airport police with the knife, and took his vehicle.

The airport was locked down when the Queen was leaving, it would never have happened as the roads leading to the airport were blocked off, with a load of Gardai around, he'd have been stopped well before the airport

The car he took in the city was a jeep, which would be easy enough to ram through the security fencing around the old terminal, not the new one. Not sure if there is road access to it, but he went through some fencing with the Garda jeep. The fire brigade are still located by the old terminal building, which is how he got the other one.

He could have headed for a plane, or worse a fuel tank and crash into it - it was pure luck that there wasn't fatalities from today, because if he had hit a fuel tank, there would be deaths, one plane was boarding

The important needs to be secure with a perimeter that you can't drive a vehicle through. If a jeep went through a car would have a fair chance at it and anything heavier would have no problem.

Even during the Queens visit the only thing that would have stopped him was the extra numbers on the ground. Using a police vehicle could have got him to the airport, the fence would have been no problem and more than likely he would have been stopped by a bullet.

Does anybody know what the timings of the event were - the time between the original hijack in the city and being stopped at the wing of a commercial airliner.

NTW - I'm guessing he may have stalled the vehicle as a result of the tyre damage.

North Face

well said Rebelgirl

Just google runway incursions like this and there is dozens if not hundreds of examples especially in the USA of stolen car fleeing police driving on active runways.

Public safety aswell as Officer Safety is paramount (both to Gardai & Airport Police Officers) and he had already slashed one members face so when he pulled a knife on a lone Airport Firefighter that is how he hijacked the second vehicle.

A Garda probe is underway along with the Airport Authority & Airport Police Service in Cork to establish any lessons learned from this occurence.

@Brian D I think it fair to say thankfully how rare it is for a Garda vehicle to be hijacked and drove at a Airport in Ireland and the swift response of the Airport Police Service & their Garda colleagues in boxing in,disabling and arresting him in a matter of minutes while the Airports Authorities contingency plans where put in place to minimize the risk to passenger and staff safety is to be commended.

D1stant

This nutter should have been shot at the airport

Did you see the chaos of the unarmed Gardai trying to box him in. FFS

Manic Moran

I have to say, I am rather bemused by the fact that a dozen vehicles seemed to be staged off to the side, whilst one car was stationary, one chased him round and round, and a fire truck somehow got roped into the act.

Short of putting anti-tank ditches around the airport, you can't stop an incursion. But once it happened, I'm surprised it took so long to stop.

NTM

BrianD

North Face wrote: »

@Brian D I think it fair to say thankfully how rare it is for a Garda vehicle to be hijacked and drove at a Airport in Ireland and the swift response of the Airport Police Service & their Garda colleagues in boxing in,disabling and arresting him in a matter of minutes while the Airports Authorities contingency plans where put in place to minimize the risk to passenger and staff safety is to be commended.

I don't believe that your view is supported by the video evidence.

It's also quite clear that there seems to be no training on how to stop a vehicle in this situation. There was no boxing in or any tactics displayed by the pursurers. The fact of the matter is both the Garda and the Airport Police failed to stop the vehicle at any point. Had it not stopped of it's own accord it would have collided with the aircraft with the police still in pursuit.

The fire engine that appeared should never been involved. What happened if the guy collided with it, disabled it and still managed to crash another vehicle into a plane resulting in a fire? One major fire fighting asset could have been disabled.

Fair play to the staff who did their best but it is VERY CLEAR that there are major deficiencies in the planning and ability of the powers that be to react to this type of breach. It is luck and not the police that stopped this guy.

I head on the radio that there is another barrier inside the fence to stop vehicles but the gap is wide enough to allow a vehicle to drive down between fence and barrier until he reached a gateway and then get onto the apron. Something to be reviewed here.

ríomhaire

Is there any photo of the man?

Debs_man

I have not come across any photos yet

Slunk

Can people stop mentioning gta. Its only a matter of time before the media reference to it and the banning of such games.

We have no idea what motivated this mad man to do this.

BrianD

Slunk wrote: »

Can people stop mentioning gta. Its only a matter of time before the media reference to it and the banning of such games.

We have no idea what motivated this mad man to do this.

The man may have had his own motivations and Cork airport has been in the news. Who knows! It could be as simple as one thing led to another - it's seems that there was a reason for the original road stop where the Garda was attacked (one hopes he is making a good recovery).

basill

This nutter should have been shot at the airport

It really begs the question what you actually have to do to get shot in this pc world.

Each day as a pilot we comply with stupid rules covering everything from having our ID on display through to the size of the deodorant container I can carry when away.

Yet this guy can knife a gard, steal his car, crash through a fence, steal another car and risk the lives of various people in or around the airport ramp. Fortunately the vehicle broke down before he could crash into the side of the A320.

But never fear he will pop into hospital for a wee while before he is let loose back into the community where the doctors will tell you that he will get better as he will reintegrate into society. Perhaps these doctors can foot the bill for his ongoing care and the cleanup as well as the various investigations that will now be in full swing.

rebel girl 15

ríomhaire wrote: »

Is there any photo of the man?

No, don't think there will be any either - according to reports, the man will be undergoing assessment in CUH.

BrianD wrote: »

Does anybody know what the timings of the event were - the time between the original hijack in the city and being stopped at the wing of a commercial airliner.

NTW - I'm guessing he may have stalled the vehicle as a result of the tyre damage.

It was before 5pm when he stole the Garda car, before proceeding down a pedestrian street. I saw it on twitter at about 5.30/5.40

Manic Moran wrote: »

I have to say, I am rather bemused by the fact that a dozen vehicles seemed to be staged off to the side, whilst one car was stationary, one chased him round and round, and a fire truck somehow got roped into the act.

Short of putting anti-tank ditches around the airport, you can't stop an incursion. But once it happened, I'm surprised it took so long to stop.

I think the reason quite a few vehicles were off to the side was that they were afraid he was going for the fuel tank. The fact it was a member of the Armed Response Unit that tazered him is interesting.

Once he got through the barrier, he tore off his clothes before getting into a fire jeep. 12 inch knife was taken from him, and it was stated that he was known to Gardai

Bendihorse

The basic level fencing required for an international airport accepting US flights is 2.4m high concrete post and chainlink fencing. Knock international was upgraded to the afforementioned spec after Flyglobespan started doing US routes from there. Previous to that the fencing was sheep wire and barb on timber posts, the primary concern being animals wandering onto the runway.

The heavy security fencing around Dublin has already stopped a number of rubber neckers who went off the road and hit the fence going airside without a pass, but it would take a serious gate/fence to stop a landcruiser driven at speed, although it would probably disable the vehicle.

BrianD

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

I think the reason quite a few vehicles were off to the side was that they were afraid he was going for the fuel tank. The fact it was a member of the Armed Response Unit that tazered him is interesting.

While the chase was going around on the apron there seemed only to be 3-4 Garda vehicles. By the time it ended a minute later at the aircraft there were a substantial number of vehicles. Why did all the others hold back when they were needed to box in or stop the intruder? Why was the fire tender.

He was only tazered after the vehicle had stopped. I'm sure that there will be an enquiry into that but I don't think anybody would argue that at that stage it was stop him by all means.

North Face

It was still an active movement/airside apron area. Gardai are not permitted to drive here as they not trained,equipped or qualified for airfield driving.

Hence you see the Airport Police response car chasing him as they are suitably trained to drive and operate on the area. After the airport copper rammed him trying to disable him, he continued on struck a Garda jeep and then RSU took over the chase where he went on struck a baggage dolley and vehicle became disabled and he was Tazed and arrested.

The Fire Service appliance was deployed in case the hijacked jeep did hit another vehicle or Aircraft and could immediatly deploy foam/water to avoid a fire occuring and indangering life.

BrianD

North Face wrote: »

It was still an active movement/airside apron area. Gardai are not permitted to drive here as they not trained,equipped or qualified for airfield driving.

Hence you see the Airport Police response car chasing him as they are suitably trained to drive and operate on the area. After the airport copper rammed him trying to disable him, he continued on struck a Garda jeep and then RSU took over the chase where he went on struck a baggage dolley and vehicle became disabled and he was Tazed and arrested.

The Fire Service appliance was deployed in case the hijacked jeep did hit another vehicle or Aircraft and could immediatly deploy foam/water to avoid a fire occuring and indangering life.

I don't accept your view. If the Gardai are untrained to intercept a car then it's unlikely that the airport police are. Apart from the basics that a baggage car driver would get, what training do you need to drive at an airport apron? In this case of an emergency intervention no training is really required. The fact of the matter the regular Gardai were already on the apron but there was a failure to stop the car.

If it was the case that regular Gardai had to stop and hold back then it is clearly another failure of procedures - there's no way that the 2 cars that the Airport Police deployed could stop this guy and are they not equipped to deal with an armed intruder. This was beyond their capabilities and required the assistance of the Garda.

It appears from the video that the fire appliance was involved in the chase but seems to back off pretty quickly. It's not in the video again nor does it approach the plane where the jeep stopped.

Run_to_da_hills

Slunk wrote: »

Can people stop mentioning gta. Its only a matter of time before the media reference to it and the banning of such games.

We have no idea what motivated this mad man to do this.

No harm, it is trash like this that is encouraging teenage Joyriding across the capital.

rebel girl 15

North Face wrote: »

It was still an active movement/airside apron area. Gardai are not permitted to drive here as they not trained,equipped or qualified for airfield driving.

Hence you see the Airport Police response car chasing him as they are suitably trained to drive and operate on the area. After the airport copper rammed him trying to disable him, he continued on struck a Garda jeep and then RSU took over the chase where he went on struck a baggage dolley and vehicle became disabled and he was Tazed and arrested.

The Fire Service appliance was deployed in case the hijacked jeep did hit another vehicle or Aircraft and could immediatly deploy foam/water to avoid a fire occuring and indangering life.

That is correct - the staff reckoned that the guy was heading for the fuel tank or the plane. Which is why it was held back afterwards, so that if something did happen, it could deal with it

Looking at the video, there are a load of cars up to the left, just after coming on the scene but not moving forward. Maybe it was a case of the Gardai looking for permission to come onto the tarmac - or waiting to see if the Airport Police could see if the guy had other weapons, then moving forward.

edit: reading another report it states that "Several garda units responded to the alert and the stolen vehicle ploughed into one patrol car near the entrance to Cork Airport" - I reckon the Gardai gave a chase in front of the old terminal building, but for some reason did not in front of the new terminal building? Maybe they had set up some sort of blockade there, and the guy got through them, damaging the cars, it would make sense as the fire services are stationed to the far side of the old building.

rebel girl 15

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

No harm, it is trash like this that is encouraging teenage Joyriding across the capital.

Well this most certainly was not teenage joyriding so completely not relevant to the incident

AlekSmart

BrianD wrote: »

It's also quite clear that there seems to be no training on how to stop a vehicle in this situation. There was no boxing in or any tactics displayed by the pursurers. The fact of the matter is both the Garda and the Airport Police failed to stop the vehicle at any point. Had it not stopped of it's own accord it would have collided with the aircraft with the police still in pursuit.

Fair play to the staff who did their best but it is VERY CLEAR that there are major deficiencies in the planning and ability of the powers that be to react to this type of breach. It is luck and not the police that stopped this guy.

.

For sure BrianD this has to be taken back to first principles,and that begins with "The man was known to Gardai"...that lovely Irish euphemism which can cover every type of deviant personality from Rubber Fetishist to Cannibal.

This gent,"known to them" as he was,is attempted to be stopped by a Garda whom he then attacks with a weapon..he injures the Garda who loses possession of his official vehicle (can others confirm the seriousness of this occurence alone ?).

The Gardai,in spite of all the politically correct attempts to portray them as some soft-focused Guardians of the Peace,are tasked to uphold and enforce the Law....in other words the average Garda has to ensure that we all do stuff which we might not wish to do if left to our own devices.

That task has to be backed up by proper training in higher-intensity policing,of the type often seen across Europe and the rest of the world.

A 12" lengthh of hickory may well have been appropriate in 18th Century London,but 21st Century Cork demonstrably requires a wee bit more.......

I'd also imagine that the poor oul Garda who discharged his Taser is now up to his oxters in forms,interviews and second-guessing by experienced members of the Garda Complaints Commission....:rolleyes:

Manic Moran

It was still an active movement/airside apron area. Gardai are not permitted to drive here as they not trained,equipped or qualified for airfield driving.

Hence you see the Airport Police response car chasing him as they are suitably trained to drive and operate on the area. After the airport copper rammed him trying to disable him, he continued on struck a Garda jeep and then RSU took over the chase where he went on struck a baggage dolley and vehicle became disabled and he was Tazed and arrested.

Not buying it. The airport was just as 'active' after he got disabled as he was before. (including where the Garda cars appear to have been parked). And, bluntly, just how 'active' can Cork Airport be, especially if Ground has a bit of cop-on and puts out an 'All stop' instruction?

The chances of a Garda car with an untrained-for-airport-driving driver having an incident in that situation vs the chances of mad, out-of-control-driver having an incident are, I think, sufficiently weighted one way that the concerns of having the 'untrained' Garda driving on the airfield are significantly outweighed by the need to stop the guy.

NTM

ríomhaire

My friends this was the worst attack on an Irish airport in the history of this nation. It it shows us why we must remain ever vigilant lest we suffer such occurrences again.

savagecabbages

From this video, I'd wager that the Airport Fire appliance was trying to intercept the vehicle, turning towards the jeep. I wouldn't argue with one of those monsters!
Also nice takedown by the RSU once he stopped

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSdrERR_pi8

Stinicker

ríomhaire wrote: »

My friends this was the worst attack on an Irish airport in the history of this nation. It it shows us why we must remain ever vigilant lest we suffer such occurrences again.

Humm... 22/05/2011 = 2+2 = 4 + 5 = 9 / 11

There is more than this than meets the eye, I off here, wait till I get my tinfoil hat! :pac:

shamrock55

why in gods name did the cops give him so much space while he was going around in circles they were bloody miles behind him just as well the jeep stopped when it did he should have been stopped alot earlier

Manic Moran

BrianD wrote: »

It appears from the video that the fire appliance was involved in the chase but seems to back off pretty quickly. It's not in the video again nor does it approach the plane where the jeep stopped.

This is a far more enlightening video, even though it's incredibly shaky and you need to turn your head sideways.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTFFXr1gaJQ

That is correct - the staff reckoned that the guy was heading for the fuel tank or the plane. Which is why it was held back afterwards, so that if something did happen, it could deal with it

The driving around in circles goes on for a full six minutes, and the fire truck seems to have been enthusiastically involved for much of it. Unless 'being held back' looks suspiciously like attempting to block and ram.

NTM

roundymac

shamrock55 wrote: »

why in gods name did the cops give him so much space while he was going around in circles they were bloody miles behind him just as well the jeep stopped when it did he should have been stopped alot earlier

It's all very well sitting in front of your PC giving out, why did'nt the police do this why did'nt they do that, it's a different story if you are there yourself, see how easy if it would be if you had to stop him

rebel girl 15

roundymac wrote: »

It's all very well sitting in front of your PC giving out, why did'nt the police do this why did'nt they do that, it's a different story if you are there yourself, see how easy if it would be if you had to stop him

Especially when they thought he had a machine gun!

Manic Moran

roundymac wrote: »

It's all very well sitting in front of your PC giving out, why did'nt the police do this why did'nt they do that, it's a different story if you are there yourself, see how easy if it would be if you had to stop him

If they were at least making an apparent serious effort, it would be less easy to criticise, but fifteen cars sitting off at the end of the apron and apparently making no contribution to the stop make it hard to accept that they tried particularly hard.

NTM

cson

They should have blown him away tbqh.

The amount of lives put in danger there would warrant it imo.

ThisRegard

Watching the videos has me wondering why weren't the two from the disabled car picked up by one of the many cars instead of being left to run around on the tarmac like a Benny Hill video ?

Manic Moran

Please tell me someone has the ATC/Ground Control tower tapes.

NTM

Terrontress

I have looked up Michael Grimes' site www.corkairport.info

Dr Grimes used to publish more than Cork Airport management ever would themselves.

It seems though that he has not updated his site since March.

rebel girl 15

Terrontress wrote: »

I have looked up Michael Grimes' site www.corkairport.info

Dr Grimes used to publish more than Cork Airport management ever would themselves.

It seems though that he has not updated his site since March.

He must be reading this thread - website was updated today!

BrianD

roundymac wrote: »

It's all very well sitting in front of your PC giving out, why did'nt the police do this why did'nt they do that, it's a different story if you are there yourself, see how easy if it would be if you had to stop him

It is very well to do so and rightly we should be. There is no doubting the bravery and the efforts of the officers involved to stop this man.

However, it is a fair criticism that this job was done very poorly and only luck saved the day. This is not a fault of the officers involved but systems and training failures. The perimeter fence was inadequate, neither the Garda or Airport Police are trained for 'hot pursuit' and stopping a vehicle. In the USA they seem to prefer crashing into a vehicle to stop it while in the UK they use elaborate boxing in techniques. Neither were used here. Police cars can be seen veering away and no tactics deployed.

Furthermore, a vital piece of fire fighting equipment was put at risk by seemingly getting involved in the pursuit. No doubt the driver though in good faith though I've got a big truck that will stop him. Had the fire tender been disabled and the jeep crashed into the plane it might have had disasterous results.

The other video that Manic posted seems to show no effort to stop the vehicle for almost 5 min

I don't buy any of this "held back" nonsense because of some great forsight or insight that somebody on the scene had.

There's absolutely no doubting the intent, resolve and efforts of the officers involved but it was luck and not them that stopped this chase. We really need to look at if adequate training is given to officers to deal with these situations.

Also what was the status of the Aer Lingus plane that the guy stopped at? Were there passengers on board?

castie

Is it not entirely possible that they didnt want to box him in for fear that he would head straight for the plane at that point?

I know in car chases they always say the most damage is done when they think theyre close to being caught and they do something stupid.

BrianD

castie wrote: »

Is it not entirely possible that they didnt want to box him in for fear that he would head straight for the plane at that point?

I know in car chases they always say the most damage is done when they think theyre close to being caught and they do something stupid.

Not a possibility. The act of stupidity had started once he drove through the fence. The police should have been trying to stop his vehicle immediately. Afterall, luck had it that he went for the apron and not a runway. They had ample opportunitity to do - almost 10 minutes. The guy did quite a few laps around the apron before even heading towards the plane.

Call me an armchair pundit but it it is evident from the video that there was no planned effort to stop this guy in any shape or form.

Also looking at the video that Manic posted. During it there seems to be a load of guys under the wing and later the forward door of the aer lingus plane closes. Were there passengers on board? Surely if an event like this was taking place the doors should have been opened to allow evacuation?