Man in boxer shorts jumps fence, crashes pickup into Southwest Airlines plane at airfield: Omaha police

A man in boxer shorts was arrested after he scaled a fence and rammed a pickup truck into a Southwest Airlines airplane parked at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska. PHOTO: REUTERS

OMAHA (Reuters) - A man was arrested after he stripped down to his boxer shorts, scaled a fence and rammed a pickup truck into a Southwest Airlines airplane parked at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, on Thursday (Aug 25), the police said.

Two crew members suffered minor injuries on the Southwest Airlines flight, bound for Denver, as passengers were boarding at 9.30pm local time when the man drove the truck into the plane's nose gear, said Omaha Airport Authority chief of police Tim Connahan.

One of the 18 passengers on board the flight was also injured in the incident, the airline said in a statement.

The unidentified man was taken into custody and there was no suggestion the incident was an act of extremism, Mr Connahan said.

He said airport security personnel had noticed a man "acting in a bizarre manner" near the perimeter of the airport. The man then stripped down to his boxer shorts, climbed over a fence and ran onto an airport runway as officers gave chase.

The man then jumped into a parked truck, which had its engine running, and drove it into the nose gear of the plane he was apprehended by the police, Mr Connahan said.

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