Detroit Metro Airport has installed 9,000-pound concrete barricades outside the McNamara Terminal as officials plan to fortify it against vehicular attacks, Airport Authority CEO Chad Newton told the Free Press on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
The homely but effective barriers went in this week as part of a security review after the Jan. 23 crash, when a man rammed his Mercedes through the front doors of the terminal and slammed into a ticketing counter.
No one was killed in that crash and investigators are still working to understand everything that happened.
“What we know for sure happened is that this was a deliberate act,” Newton said in his first interview since the crash. “Someone didn’t lose consciousness and drive onto the curb. This was a result of a deliberate, reckless act of the driver.”
Newton said he was as surprised as anyone when he heard about it.
“I’ve been here at the airport for 27 years and nothing like this has ever happened,” Newton said. “It’s definitely changed our security posture.”
Newton said that the building features design elements intended to prevent this kind of thing, but that they turned out to be inadequate to stop this car.
“He was in the far left lane of the McNamara departure level,” Newton said. “He made a 90-degree right turn where there were no vehicles and the pathway between he and the doors was clear. And he accelerated.”
Newton said that the front of the building was equipped with bollards, steel posts protruding from the pavement.
“He sheared at least one of those off,” Newton said. “If you come out here today, you will see we have 9,000-pound barricades in place, these Jersey barriers … because there’s nothing to say that this can’t happen again.”
Newton said the departure level of the terminal is, in essence, a bridge over the open space beneath it.
“There’s only so much space that you can go down before you core through the bridge,” Newton said. “It’s not a place where we can dig 4 feet down and cement a bollard in like you can if it were on ground level.”
So what’s the fix?
“You’ve seen the big potted plants, where it’s like maybe a 3- or 4-foot circle, 4 feet high, filled with concrete and then a little bit of dirt and plants on it,” he said. “My guess is we’re going to go to something like that.”
Newton said building engineers must approve any such fix to make sure the structure itself can handle added weight.
“We’re going to find out,” Newton said. “We’re working with the airlines. We’re working with our engineers. We’re working with our internal teams to find what is the most appropriate barrier that’s going to prevent a vehicle from driving into those doors again.”
Newton wouldn’t release the driver’s name because he hasn’t been charged with anything yet. He did say the man is about 40.
The FBI checked the man’s background for any known terrorist ties. They found nothing. They asked the airlines to check if he’d had any disputes with them over flights or other issues. Nothing there either.
“According to his family, he deals with mental issues,” Newton said. “Those are between he and his doctor but that’s what his family shared with us, that he was going through a mental episode.”
Newton said that when the investigation is finished, police will present their findings to the prosecutor’s office to determine what, if any, charges should be filed.
In the meantime, he said travelers should feel safe at Metro Airport.
“I think that the travelers, they should feel confident that the airport is safe and is getting safer every single day,” Newton said. “As a result of what happened, we’ve taken appropriate steps to ensure that this incident can’t happen again.”
Contact John Wisely: jwisely@freepress.com. On X: @jwisely
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Metro Airport adds barriers outside McNamara Terminal after crash
Reporting by John Wisely, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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