Homeless man crawls under fence at LAX airport and BOARDS a parked American Airlines plane before being caught by cleaning crew
- Los Angeles Airport Police say Matthew Maine, 31, who is homeless, used a pipe to pry up the fence surrounding the airport tarmac at around 4.45am Sunday
- He then allegedly boarded an empty American Airlines plane parked there before he was stopped and detained by a cleaning crew
- Police arrested him for trespassing, and he is undergoing psychiatric evaluation
- American Airlines said the plane was inspected by security after the incident
- It’s not the first case of security being breached at US airports this week, when last Friday a man made it through terminal security at the John Wayne Airport
- He allegedly avoided police by hiding out in the terminal ceiling before he was eventually found
A homeless man crawled under a security fence at Los Angeles International Airport and boarded an empty American Airlines plane before being restrained by a cleaning crew, police say.
Matthew Maine, 31, was arrested and charged with trespassing early Sunday morning, Los Angeles Airport Police say,
Cops claim that at around 4.45am he used a pipe to pry up a portion of the fence surrounding the airfield, and gained access to the tarmac.
Maine then allegedly boarded an American Airlines Boeing 787-9 which was parked on the field, but was caught by a cleaning crew.
Airport Police Sgt. Rob Pedregon told DailyMail.com that the crew detained Maine and called in the cops.
Los Angeles Airport Police say Matthew Maine, 31, pried open the fence surrounding the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport (pictured) early Sunday, and boarded an empty American Airlines plane
Police say Maine was stopped by a cleaning crew before gaining access to the plane
Pedregon said Maine was then arrested and taken for a psychiatric evaluation and remains in police custody. Police said Maine is homeless.
American Airlines confirmed the incident, saying that the plane has since been inspected by security.
‘Early yesterday morning, cleaning crews alerted local law enforcement after noticing a suspicious individual attempting to gain access to a parked aircraft,’ the airline told DailyMail.com.
‘The individual was taken into custody and the aircraft has since been re-inspected by security teams. We appreciate our cleaning partner’s quick reaction.’
Police said Maine was arrested for trespassing and taken for psychiatric evaluation (file image)
Airport visitors were surprised Maine was so easily able to gain access to the facility.
‘For someone to just walk down there so easily is definitely concerning, Lindsey Weiker told CBSLA.
‘That’s insane,’ Taylor Prater said.
It was not the first time in the past week security at a US airport had been breached.
Last Friday, Johnny Hecker, 51, of San Diego allegedly breached terminal security at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, and stole a vehicle on the tarmac before abandoning it and running away on foot, the station reported.
It was not the first time airport security in the US had been breached over the past week. Last Friday Johnny Hecker, 51, (pictured) allegedly breached terminal security at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. He was able to avoid police by hiding out in the terminal ceiling, but was eventually discovered
The incident had snarled airplane traffic at the airport, and police were initially unable to find Hecker before discovering he had climbed up and was hiding in the terminal ceiling above its ticketing area.
Jeff Price, a former assistant director of security at Denver International Airport told CBSLA that despite the breaches, airport security was still effective.
‘The system the way it is now, people will be able to access the airfield illegally but as long as we can catch them, as long as they don’t get to an airplane then the system has functionally worked, one layer might have failed but other layers succeeded,’ he said.