Watch CBS News

Authorities Investigate Man Who Drove Through BWI Security Fence

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The FBI is assisting in the investigation into what led Andrew Kottke, a former deputy U.S. Marshal, to drive his car through a fence at BWI airport over the weekend and board an empty plane.

Multiple agencies are looking into the alarming security breach.

This has happened at BWI twice in the past 13 years.

Around the country, it's much more common with someone breaching the secured perimeter of an airport about once every ten days on average.

Authorities believe it was not related to terrorism.

The incident is raising concerns over security. TSA records show dozens of breaches at airports around the country every year. In most cases, the trespassers were disoriented or delusional.

"The answer as to why it's not being vigorously addressed, nothing bad's happened, yet," said aviation security expert Jeff Price.

An Associated Press investigation found 268 airport breaches nationally over a ten-year period.

Only one other one occurred at BWI airport in 2012 when someone accidentally drove through an open gate.

Last week, a man in Oklahoma led police on a chase, caught on camera. He smashed through an airport gate and drove through the front of a packed commercial jet.

In San Francisco last year, a woman slipped through a fence and tried to flag down a plane. Surveillance cameras captured various other breaches from Denver to Detroit to Dallas, where a man slip right passed a TSA agent.

"We're living in a post 9/11 world," one person said.

In the latest case, the suspect recently had a peace order filed against him. Authorities have not released any information about his medical evaluation and have yet to charge him.

Police quickly took him into custody.

"If somebody gets over a fence and then ultimately arrested, then that's evidence of the system working," said Christopher Bidwell of VP Security, Airports Council.

Police say Kottke did have a backpack with him when he boarded the plane and had some personal effects in it.

The motive remains a mystery.

Kottke received an officer of the month award in 2015 for helping to save a woman's life after a dump truck ran over her.

Follow @CBSBaltimore on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.