The Delaware County man accused of driving his Jeep Cherokee onto the runway at Philadelphia International Airport last week is being held on $1 million bail facing a slew of charges.
Philadelphia Police say Kenneth Mazik was under the influence when he plowed his way through a gate and on to the runway forcing pilots of a commercial airliner with passengers on board to divert their landing at the last minute.
Mazik, 24, was charged with DUI, resisting arrest, criminal mischief, disorderly conduct, assault charges and related charges for Thursday's incident, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced Monday.
The Chadds Ford, Pa. resident was arraigned Monday morning and held on $1 million bail, according to prosecutors.
According to police, the whole incident lasted no longer than five minutes, and authorities took Mazik into custody at 11:13 a.m.
Sources tell NBC10 Philadelphia that the Jeep drove through a fence on the airfield and police chased the vehicle down the runway.
Authorities stopped all inbound and outbound air traffic -- about 15 to 20 planes were affected -- while police searched the Jeep for explosives. None were found, sources say.
Authorities then stopped all inbound and outbound air traffic for a short period of time.
“I don’t trust this guy are you ok if we pull off the runway here in case he comes right at us,” one pilot asked air traffic control.
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The FAA says the airport shut down for about 35 minutes Thursday morning after the vehicle was driven onto the tarmac. At the time of the incident, the FAA announced that some arriving flights were delayed an average of 34 minutes because of "security" issues.
Airport officials said Friday that perimeter fencing “meets or exceeds all federally mandated standards” and “our airfield is secure.”
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