Operations at Bush Intercontinental Airport weren’t impacted despite a response to a reported person trespassing on the tarmac Tuesday evening.
Houston Airports System said a woman was on runway 15L – one of the five serving the airport – causing a closure of the tarmac for about 15 minutes.
The apparent trespasser was taken into custody at about 8:40 p.m.
It was not immediately known how the person made it on the tarmac, or who that person is, but authorities believe she wasn’t a passenger on a flight.
Tuesday’s incident came about two months after an unrelated intrusion by a police chase suspect. In that incident, investigators said a man used a box truck to crash through the gates at IAH.
It wasn’t until an airport employee on a luggage trolley helped block the suspect from hitting an airplane. Court documents identified the suspect in the April ordeal as Karl Hollis
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While Karl Hollis, the man accused of crashing through the gates at Bush Intercontinental Airport is set to face a judge sometime Wednesday, we’re learning more about the apparent role an airport employee played in efforts to stop him.
According to court documents, a Bush Airport employee used a luggage trolley to physically block Hollis from hitting an airplane.
Instead, Hollis hit the trolley and a white minivan.
The incident briefly stopped the operations at the airport on Monday evening.
Hollis, 35, was arrested and charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle — for which he’d already had an open warrant — as well as felony evading and felony criminal mischief after the chaos on Monday.
It all began at about 9:10 p.m., when deputies with Constable Mark Herman’s office tried to stop a person in a stolen box truck in the 20100 block of the North Freeway.
That person was reportedly Hollis, who ended up leading authorities on a chase for approximately 66 miles through parts of Montgomery County and Harris County on the Hardy Toll Road, where officials successfully spiked the vehicle.
Hollis, however, authorities say was able to continue, heading toward the airport and took a left turn into a dead end, where the truck crashed through the FV5 gate on North Terminal Road.
Officials said the truck crossed taxiways and a cargo area before stopping on the south side of Terminal B, where he bailed from the truck, which was stolen back on March 23.
The owner of the truck told ABC13 that back in March, he was working at Dunkin’ Donuts in the 5000 block of Louetta, and noticed that when he went outside to turn off the water, his truck was gone.
Fast forward to April 3, and that same truck would be found crashed out at the airport.
After Hollis ran off, he was later found inside the tunnels under the airport near the Marriott Hotel.
Hollis is accused of driving through restricted areas and could also face federal charges.
Still, this wasn’t his first run-in with the law in the past month.
According to court documents, the U-Haul incident occurred after Hollis left jail for a previous offense.
He also has an evading charge from 2019 and 2008.
On March 26, Hollis was charged in a separate, unrelated incident for allegedly stealing a U-Haul 10 days earlier.
