Police Chase Ends Next to Runway at Dallas Love Field

August 26, 2010 — A high-speed police chase in Dallas last week (August 19) spilled onto the active runways and taxiways of Dallas’s famed Love Field when carjacking suspect Michael Lawrence Brown rammed an airport fence in a stolen truck. The chase caused at least one go-around and forced the temporary closure of both parallel runways (13-31) at Love in the middle of the afternoon rush at this active airline and general aviation airport.

According to KTVT-Dallas, a Dallas Police official authorized the use of deadly force when the vehicle began to head toward a group of aircraft waiting in line for takeoff on runway 13L at 80 mph.

In audio posted on LiveATC.net, Love Field air traffic controllers can be heard warning aircraft on the airport surface to hold their positions while the chase was in progress.

Television helicopter video (WFAA-Dallas) shows Brown crashing through a gate along the airline terminal ramp area in the center of the airport. He then doubles back south on the parallel taxiway of 31R. Brown then crosses 31R at the threshold and proceeds north up the taxiway on the east side of the runway, crossing an intersecting runway (36-18) before being forced into the infield, where he was finally cornered and arrested.

ATC Audio (Audio gaps and garbled transmissions have been removed)