LEMOORE, Calif. — A communication breakdown occurred last spring when a Jeep sped onto a Naval Air Station Lemoore and crashed with a parked F-18 jet, killing two people inside.
KFSN reports Wednesday that there was a lack of communication between the Navy station and the California Highway Patrol, both before and after the Jeep drove through the entry control point.
The driver of the Jeep and his passenger had been speeding away from a CHP officer, after being pulled over in Lemoore last March.
New Navy documents obtained by KFSN show CHP dispatch tried calling the base three times, but the number was not in service. In fact, the building associated with the number had been razed 10 years earlier, KFSN reports.
Dispatchers finally reached an air operations duty officer around the same time the Jeep entered the base.
The Navy must now make certain contact numbers are updated and verified frequently.
