Man Drives SUV Into Maui Airport, Halts Air Traffic for Hours

AP ^ | Feb.29, 2004

[nuconvert]

Man Drives SUV Into Maui Airport, Halts Air Traffic for Hours

Feb 29, 2004

The Associated Press

KAHULUI, Hawaii (AP) - A man drove a sport utility vehicle into the ticket lobby of Maui's main airport Sunday, then set the vehicle on fire, grounding outgoing flights for hours. No one was injured in the incident, which the FBI said was not an act of terrorism.

The man set the Dodge Durango on fire after driving it into Kahului Airport's open-air terminal, said Lowrey Leong, the director of the Transportation Security Administration on Maui.

"I went to knock on the window and he just lit it up," baggage handler Kalani Hoopii told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Hoopii said he saw a can of gasoline and a man flicking a lighter.

Flames rose to the ceiling out of the vehicle, which was about 20 feet from the United Airlines ticket counter, Leong said.

The driver, believed to be in his 40s, was in custody and was being questioned by Maui police, officials said. His identity was not immediately released.

The man's motivation was not known, but "there's no reason to believe there's a terrorism nexus," said Pam McCullough, a spokeswoman for the FBI. "There's no cause for alarm."

The crash and fire halted flights for several hours. The airport was evacuated and hundreds of would-be passengers were bused to War Memorial Gymnasium and elsewhere to wait, officials said.

The incident caused no major damage to the airport, but smoke from the fire caused problems with security screening equipment, said Scott Ishikawa, a spokesman for the state Transportation Department. Ishikawa said baggage probably would be screened by hand when the airport reopened.

[CindyDawg]

Well that's one less SUV to worry about now. Those things getting out of hand.

[Bogey78O]

Oh please. Everyone knows the man wasn't responsible. Clearly it was the SUV.

Kudos to the reporter for making the headline clear.

[NotQuiteCricket]

*gasp* A man was driving a SUV? I'm shocked at the first sentence, I thought it should be (per the stylebook) SUV DRIVES...

[Fixit]

I wonder if it had a Hemi?

[katz]

OMG! Man drives SUV? That is impossible. Story should have read, "SUV Drives...."

[xrp]

Right turn, Clyde...

[Peace will be here soon]

That SUV obviously wanted to get off that island. Being couped up like that with so little room to roam just drove it to the breaking point. I guess in the end , it could see no other option but to commit suicide.

[nuconvert]

"There's no cause for alarm."

Nothing to see here. Move along........

[nuconvert]

"there's no reason to believe there's a terrorism nexus,"

No. But there is an SUV nexus.

[pax_et_bonum]

Let this be a lesson to all of us.

Never, ever let your SUV come off its anti-depressants.

[RichInOC]

Ey, brah, no need light up da car in da terminal...try take da boat nex' time.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Arrest the SUV. Let the poor man go. Sue the SUV maker and force them out of business. That should take care of things.

[Cobra64]

A man drove a sport utility vehicle into the ticket lobby

I agree. Wait until I drive my H2 with a Mini Cooper in the back through an Army base.

The Mini slips off the back and slams through the mess hall.

Then the Mini Cooper will be labeled a "stealth vehicle.!"... Undetectable by the latest NASA sat's and CENTCOM. Then the demos will blame W for phantom BMW attacks on USA bases and demand a shutdown of the BMW plant in SC. /sarcasm (but a fun rant) This crap never ends does it?

[CindyDawg]

No but I don't think the SUV committed suicide. I believe he was torched and killed :')

[al baby]

I love law and order suv

[Cobra64]

Geeze. quick as sh'ite. As long as the Mini this mission, she can continue stealth missions and knock out the folks driving Buicks and other dopey dead cars on the road that no one wants to buy anymore.

[daviddennis]

Isn't this sort of thing terrorism almost by definition?

I mean, what else could it be?

D

[NormsRevenge]

Looks like Rush will have lots of SUV material for this week.

[rageaholic]

Why is this not considered terrorism? And the muslim Snipers, and the muslim 4th of July el Al shooter?

Because somebody important at the FBI has a big promotion riding on a claim that there were no terrorist events in the USA since 9/11. Sure is easy to make a problem go away by changing the definition of the problem...