Crime & Safety

IGH Man Charged with Driving Drunk Near MSP Airport Runway

Police say John Joseph Korab had a blood-alcohol content almost three times the legal limit when he failed to yield the right of way to an aircraft at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

An Inver Grove Heights man has been charged with driving a service truck at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport while he was legally drunk, with a blood-alcohol content almost three times the legal limit.

John Joseph Korab, 54, is charged with two counts of second-degree driving while intoxicated, each a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine. He is also charged with two misdemeanors: using alcohol while operating a vehicle in the air operations area, and not yielding the right of way to an aircraft.

According to a Hennepin County criminal complaint, an airplane at the Humphrey Terminal had pushed back about 50 feet from a gate when it was forced to stop because Korab, driving on a service road, did not yield.

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When police tracked down Korab, they smelled alcohol on his breath and noted that his eyes were bloodshot, the complaint says. He admitted that he had been drinking earlier and consented to a preliminary breath test, which showed a blood-alcohol content of .22 percent, according to the complaint.

The legal blood-alcohol limit in Minnesota is .08 percent.

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A subsequent breath test showed that Korab’s blood-alcohol level was .21 percent and hour and a half later, according to the complaint.

Korab’s criminal record includes DWI convictions in 1992 and 2008.

Korab, who is no longer working at the airport, is free on a $12,000 bond. He is scheduled to make a first appearance on the charges Aug. 3 in Hennepin County District Court.


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