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.
See 20.
OPINION: While checking the news I see there are a lot of articles on this incident
PR needs to change immediately.
The military needs to put pitbull type guards at the gate and a big military tank and...
Just to let the bad guys know that this was an isolated incident.
"Otherwise, these boys would have been dead."
Or, at least shot at.
the=they:(
Hooligans!
Article snippet from the link I posted on post #18:
?According to van der Oord, there were two enlisted members from the 6th Security Forces Squadron manning the Dale Mabry entrance when the teens plowed through shortly before 3 a.m. Due to the time of day, the gate had been shut down to one lane."
Ignore the question mark, it should have been quoations marks.
"Whaa? I finally get to go to the john and this happens?"
thanks for the clarification.
There you go.
The model entry/exit gate.
An underfunded project no doubt - installing the automatic baricades is expensive.
thank you Florida Command for taking the heat off of the 127th in Michigan - course we just shoot intruders - lol
You're very welcome Jet Jaguar.
OPINION: You're right.
They are lucky.
They should be dead.
I would be very surprised if contract guards were used at McDill. I've passed through several gates since 9-11 and saw nothing but armed military personnel.
Guess I was afraid to piss of the "professional" security contractors.
Contract guards (armed), Army arties (armed), and USAF Security Force troops (armed) are the norm at most bases lately.
(But, I cannot speak for MacDill.)
Why should there be? I assume they blew past an SP however.
I have noticed a lack of professional demeanor among a very few contract guards.
I never see that from the Army or Air Force guards.
Here it is on Forbes.com.
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