Posted on 03/01/2003 9:25:37 AM PST by John H K
INDIANAPOLIS -- A Saudi Arabian man whose alleged actions and possessions drew suspicion from authorities after an Indianapolis traffic collision is no longer being investigated by the FBI, RTV6's Jack Rinehart reported Friday.
Authorities questioned Ayman Al-Salmi after a sheriff's deputy reported finding airplane flight instructions in a car the Saudi was driving Feb. 19. Also found in the vehicle was a hand-drawn map to a place identified as a federal building in Indianapolis, according to police.
The FBI said Friday it has no concern over Al-Salmi, a student at the Vincennes University Aviation Technology Center in Indianapolis.
University administrators this week described Al-Salmi, 21, as a paid employee of a Saudi Arabian airline who is seeking a degree in aviation maintenance.
Associate professor John Griffin (pictured, right) said he drew the map to help foreign students find a local immigration office. The building on the map is Gateway Plaza, he said.
"The building is hard to find, so we drew up the map so they could get down there," Griffin said.
Al-Salmi ran a stop sign, struck a vehicle and fled the scene on the city's southwest side Feb. 19, police said.
A witness drove to chase Al-Salmi and eventually escorted him back to the collision scene at Raymond Street and Executive Drive, according to a police report.
According to the report, Al-Salmi kept changing his story as to why he fled the scene, including: "He was confused, he was lost, he was trying to find a business and was frustrated and the he didn't know why he left."
Police said Al-Salmi insisted that a police report not be taken, and offered to take the hit driver to a bank so Al-Salmi could withdraw $5,000 as payment.
According to the police report, Al-Salmi also tried to offer a tow-truck driver money to tow his car to his cousin's home, and to not tell the officer that it wouldn't be heading to the wrecker lot.
Al-Salmi also tried to obstruct a search of his car, the report said.
He was cited with fleeing a property damage accident.
Vincennes University officials attributed Al-Salmi's alleged behavior to stress and cultural differences, Rinehart reported.
Griffin said the background of Al-Salmi -- like those of other visa-holding students after the September 2001 terrorist attacks on Washington and New York -- was extensively checked by the FBI and immigration officials before he arrived in the United States.
The Marion County Sheriff's Department served a search warrant on Al-Salmi's Speedway apartment after the traffic incident, but nothing suspicious was found, authorities said.
Al-Salmi is scheduled to graduate from Vincennes' aviation technology center in May, Rinehart reported.
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