Olathe man sentenced for using airport runway trying to escape police
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – An Olathe, Kansas man is sentenced for crimes stemming from a police chase that ended on a runway at Kansas City’s Downtown Airport.
Efren Torres-Rodriguez, 35, who led police officers on a high-speed chase down a runway at the downtown airport was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to 6 years and 6 months for disrupting airport operations as well as illegally possessing a firearm.
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Back in March, Torres-Rodriguez pleaded guilty to damaging and disrupting an international airport and to being a felon and an unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm.
Kansas City Police responded to the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport on Feb. 1, 2022, to check out a report of a suspicious car.
Court documents show officers found Torres-Rodriguez passed out in the driver’s seat of the running car.
Officers ordered Torres-Rodriguez to get out of the car. Instead, he drove away.
Police followed Torres-Rodriguez as he crashed through a gate to the airfield. Court documents show he drove down the airport runway at speeds up to 100 mph during the chase.
His car became inoperable when he tried to drive through a grassy area.
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After arresting Torres-Rodriguez, officers searched him and his car. Officers found a clear plastic bag in his pants pocket that contained methamphetamine. They also found a gun, ammunition, and drug paraphernalia in his car.
Torres-Rodriguez also admitted to using methamphetamine every other day and to smoking marijuana daily since he was 15 years old.
Torres-Rodriguez is a convicted felon and is not allowed to have any guns or ammunition in his possession.
The police chase caused the airport to close for 40 minutes. Planes were not allowed to take off or land, according to court documents.
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Torres-Rodriguez also destroyed the gate and damaged the airport’s fence that is designed to keep trespassers and animals away from runways.
At sentencing, evidence was presented that Torres-Rodriguez caused over $23,000 in damage to the airport. The insurance covering the vehicle driven by Torres-Rodriguez paid for all damages to the airport prior to sentencing.
