Mentally Ill Man Trespasses into LAX Restricted Area

A mentally ill man was arrested Friday for walking in a restricted area of Los Angeles International Airport, police said.

About 10:50 a.m., a Southwest Airlines employee spotted a 30-year-old man walking along a service road in the airfield operations area, a section closed to the public, LAX police spokesman Rob Pedregon said.

The unidentified man likely jumped a fence to gain access to the road that runs along the perimeter of the airport and is typically only used by vehicles to traverse the airport, Pedregon said.

The Southwest Airlines employee called airport police, which interviewed the suspect and took him into custody, the spokesman said.

The way the trespasser spoke made him sound like he was “from Mars,” Pedregon said.

He was undergoing psychological evaluation.

The incident did not result in any flight delays, Pedregon said.

— City News Service, Patch file photo