Worker Charged With Driving Drunk at Minnesota Airport

A ground worker at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was arrested for allegedly driving drunk on the tarmac, according to a police report made public Monday.

John Joseph Korab, 54, of Inver Grove Heights, was charged with four counts including drunken driving and use of alcohol while operating a vehicle in the airport’s operations area. He did not immediately return a phone call Monday seeking comment. Court records show he’s due to appear in court Aug. 3.

The police report said Korab was driving a truck for the ground services company Servisair when he failed to yield to an AirTran jet that was being pushed back from the gate about 10:15 p.m. Thursday at the airport’s Terminal 2. A ramp supervisor for Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, which owns AirTran, reported the incident to airport police.

The arresting officer wrote in the report that he smelled a strong odor of alcohol on Korab’s breath and that his eyes were bloodshot.

Korab’s blood alcohol level was 0.21 percent, more than double Minnesota’s legal limit for driving, according to the report.

He has a prior DWI conviction from 2008, the report said.