Posted on 03/16/2006 5:25:26 PM PST by SandRat
The driver of a truck that ran a checkpoint at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base on Tuesday had a loaded gun at his feet and what may have been cocaine in his pocket, Tucson police said Wednesday.
The truck also reeked of alcohol when rescuers arrived to tend to the driver and passenger after they crashed into a metal road barrier that protects the air base from unauthorized entry.
The men remained hospitalized in fair condition late Wednesday.
Police said they have discounted terrorism as a potential motive and now suspect the duo may have been impaired by drugs or alcohol and confused about where they were.
"We are ready to say that there are no links to terrorism, and we don't have any reason to believe we will uncover one," said Sgt. Mark Robinson, a Tucson Police Department spokesman. "We're looking into the possibility that they were disoriented and got lost." Police on Wednesday identified the driver as 28-year-old Fidel Antonio Lopez-Sanchez, of an undetermined address; and the passenger as Saul Cazares Carrillo, 24, of the 16000 block of West Greenwald Street near Three Points, about 20 miles west of Tucson.
Investigators are not sure if the passenger was involved in wrongdoing. Carrillo may be treated as a victim if police determine he had no influence over the driver, authorities said.
Base officials ran the men's names through Air Force personnel and contracting records and determined they had no legitimate reason to enter the installation, said Maj. Laurel Tingley, a D-M spokeswoman. "The people in that vehicle had absolutely no affiliation with the base," she said.
Both the gun, a .45-caliber revolver, and a small amount of what might be cocaine, enough for personal use, were found with the driver. The white powder is being tested, police said.
Authorities still have not been able to question the pair because they have been unconscious since their 1999 Dodge truck slammed into the roadblock after speeding through a D-M entrance gate at South Swan and East Golf Links roads. The incident occurred at 6:45 a.m., and shut down the gate for several hours.
Robinson said the truck is registered to a third party in Southern Arizona, but he would not be more specific because police want to contact the owner first. The vehicle has not been reported stolen, he said.
It just keeps going.
was this pair doing the gate crashing Americans refuse to do?
Cheech-n-Chong thought there was a party there.
oh, they were looking for a place to crash.
I got drunk, I snorted some coke, I ran into a BIG gate....
Real Test Dummies looking to replace Vince and Larry.
too bad we aren't allow to set up our own test for this type of ilk.
the test I would set up is....
rocket-sled to 50 foot thick concrete barrier.
Yeesh!
Now we'll get about a hundred posts telling us this wouldn't happen if drugs were legal.
Of course it would happen even if drugs were legal. There are only a very limited number of places a tweaker can REALLY test his new anti-roadblock bumper.
The testers are expected to be in satisfactory condition to issue a report tomorrow.
BTTT
It was LOL yesterday when somebody whined, "why does FR always assume somebody with a Mexican surname is an illegal in a case like this?". A day later and they still can't figure out where he's from.
"Now we'll get about a hundred posts telling us this wouldn't happen if drugs were legal".
From the article: "The truck also reeked of alcohol"
Alcohol is a drug. Alcohol is legal.
"telling us this wouldn't happen if drugs were legal".
It did happen and the drug alcohol is legal.
Oh just wait til you see tonight's follow on to this story.
"Police on Wednesday identified the driver as 28-year-old Fidel Antonio Lopez-Sanchez, of an undetermined address"
TURNS OUT HE IS AN ILLEGAL. and they sent him to a mexican hospital so "It wouldnt cost the US taxpayers". I'm serious, this was on the news this morning on KNST in Tucson. Thank GOD Kolbe is being sent to the dungheap of history.
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