Police chase ends on Wisconsin airport runway

(KMSP) - Dash cam video showed the tense moments when a car chase ended up on an airport runway in Wisconsin on Tuesday.

The suspect crashed the gate at the Oshkosh airport before police caught up with him.

The chase started on I-41 and lasted about six minutes.

Trooper Jon Pedersen said after the suspect drove into the Oshkosh area, he headed toward Wittman Regional Airport.

“Slowed down coming up to the gate and I thought he was gonna take a right and instead he accelerated and blew right through the gate,” Pedersen said.

Despite damaging his car, the suspect did not stop there.

“He bottomed out at that point, and destroyed more of his car. He drives over the first runway and then enters a grassy area between the two runways,” he said.

Pederson said he checked for aircraft traffic as the chase continued. Eventually, the blue car flew into a drainage ditch where the chase finally came to an end.

At that point, the suspect got out of his car and surrendered.

Airport director Peter Moll said the situation could have ended much worse.

“Good timing, I guess, because there wasn’t any traffic, at least, on the runway or in the air at the time,” Moll said. "We have plans for a lot of contingencies around the airport and that's one of them. What we did was just close that runway for about an hour, kept operations off it so that there was no conflict with aircraft and vehicles."

The suspect has been identified as 56-year-old Lee Konop of Manitowoc. He faces charges of eluding an officer and is expected in court later this month.

Moll said the only damage to the airport was the gate.