Posted on 09/20/2006 4:37:53 PM PDT by rightgrafix
MIAMI (Reuters) - Two teenage car thieves drove a stolen car on Wednesday without being stopped onto the U.S. military base that commands much of the war on terror, triggering an investigation into the security breach, police and military officials said.
Police in Tampa, Florida, said the joyriders were only stopped and arrested after ramming two police cruisers that had entered MacDill Air Force Base in pursuit.
Police had been monitoring the vehicle as it sped through the Florida Gulf Coast city after eluding a police speed trap, said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.
The car then "blasted through the gate at the base," and police at that point took up the chase and were waved through by Military Police, McElroy said.
There was nothing at the gate preventing entry to MacDill, which houses the U.S. Central Command, responsible for U.S. military operations in the Horn of Africa, Middle East and Central Asia and therefore for much of the U.S. war on terror.
Public affairs spokesman Air Force Lt. Larry van der Oord declined to discuss specific security measures in force at the gate but said an investigation had been launched.
"But the thing to remember is that this is an isolated incident. The suspects were apprehended very quickly once they made their way into the base and taken into custody," van der Oord said.
Davaraye Mungin, 16, and Damia Bowie, 16, both well-known to the police, face charges of grand theft auto, fleeing law enforcement, resisting arrest with violence and aggravated assault on a policeman. They may also face federal charges.
Just send them on to "Club Gitmo"
Chicanery!
I'm quite suprised at the line,
There was nothing at the gate preventing entry to MacDill
Me too, they should at least have a chicane.
OPINION: Well the source of the article al-Reuters, the UK division.
I think I would like a few more details as to how this happened.
Rent-a-cops at the gate? Retractable bollards? Haven't been to MacDill in awhile. Some AF security forces don't seem to have a shoot to kill ethos, and I'm sure ROE stateside is more like be REALLY REALLY SURE before you shoot. If they have live ammo...
Consider the source: Al-Reuters.
Does anyone at Rooters realize how utterly inane this sentence is?
I would hope the guards are not concerned with bad press when something like this happens. They are armed for a reason.
;^)
Anyone care to bet what the al-reuters' story would be if security gate guards had killed these kids?
I'm not surprised that kids weren't shot, but I am surprised that the base either doesn't have pop up gates, or more likely that they were triggered.
Every military base is an anti-terrorism base you anal Frenchies.
This is under "Oddly Enough News."
Yea, surprised look on face here, too.
Someone tries that at Nellis and I'd bet your axles are separated from the car in short order.
I just assumed that all bases did that same thing.
Hmmmmm........
Hmmm...
OPINION:3 am, traffic shut down to 1 lane and the guards on duty could have used deadly force in this incident.
I really don't know why they didn't Jet Jaguar.
http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/newswire/comments/police_pursuit_ends_at_macdill_past_centcom/
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Tampa police were tracking Davaraye Mungin and Damia Bowie, both 16, as they sped south on Dale Mabry Highway toward MacDill in a 2000 Chrysler Cirrus.
By the time police contacted armed guards at MacDill’s Dale Mabry gate, the vehicle was already on the base, according to Air Force 1st Lt. Larry van der Oord, a base spokesman."
Nice find. These kids are lucky the are alive.
Same here.
I wonder if contractor gate guards were on duty at the time.
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