Suburban man accused of runway racing gets pulled out of aircraft and arrested

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Authorities in Lake County have accused a man from suburban Zion of racing his car back and forth on an active runway at Grayslake’s Campbell Airport earlier this week.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were sent to the airport just before noon on Tuesday for reports of someone driving their Toyota all over an active runway.

The driver was identified as 30-year-old Erik Deanda-Gonzalez. The sheriff’s office said he eventually parked his car and began entering aircraft hangers. When deputies found him, he was inside of an aircraft parked near a taxiway.

“Employees at the airfield informed deputies that Deanda-Gonzalez did not own the aircraft and had no business being inside of it,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a press release.

Deanda-Gonzalez eventually got out of the aircraft and spoke with the deputies. As they walked back toward Deanda-Gonzalez’s Toyota, though, the 30-year-old allegedly took off, without warning, back toward the aircraft.

He tried to crawl back into the cockpit but was pulled out and arrested by deputies.

Officials said they found ammunition — but no firearms — inside Deanda-Gonzalez’s car, which was towed from the scene. He was charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors for trespassing, resisting a peace officer and unlawfully possessing firearm ammunition.

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