Woman detained at LAX for trying to ‘flag down’ an aircraft on the tarmac: video
A woman walked out onto the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport and tried to flag down a plane before being detained by police in a bizarre incident captured on video.
The unidentified woman — who airport officials said had a plane ticket — walked out of a door at Terminal 1 and onto the ramp about 6:30 p.m. Monday, said LAX police Lt. Karla Rodriguez, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.
“Airline employees who witnessed the woman exiting the terminal followed security protocols and maintained visual contact until the airport police arrived shortly thereafter and detained the woman,” Rodriguez told City News Service in a statement.
“She told responding officers she was trying to flag down the aircraft, which was still parked in the gate area,” she added.
The woman reportedly underwent a mental health evaluation at a local hospital, where she also was treated for a minor injury.
A correspondent for Black News Channel News posted video of the incident on Twitter, where she also made a racial allegation against law enforcement.
“Wow, I’m sitting here at @flyLAXairport @SouthwestAir & this white young lady runs out the door & on the tarmac trying to wave a plane down,” Tezlyn Figaro wrote.
“It seems like it took the police forever to get here. If she were Black, she would be shot (with no questions asked),” she added.
“I’m amazed at how GENTLE #LAPD is with this white girl that ran on the tarmac at LAX (federal offense) no weapons were drawn, they brought the firefighter for medical attention,” Figaro said in another tweet.
“So white girls can run on the tarmac and be able to stand up while they gently search her bags. This is wild!” she added.
The LAX police union responded to her tweets, asking her to “stop interjecting things that just aren’t present or true. @LAAirportPD officers responded within minutes of the call.”
It said in a tweet that the woman was “experiencing a mental health crisis. Officers acted professionally placing her in custody an(d) later transported her for a mental evaluation. #DoBetter”
Responding to Figaro’s suggestion that police was engaging in “damage control,” the union wrote: “No damage control, only damaging thing here is your inability to see past the your own biased view of the world.
“Rather than stirring the pot with hyperbolic comments based upon anecdotal rhetoric how about you witnesses a person in distress that needed help. #FactsMatter,” it said.
