The Region - News from Aug. 18, 1987

The Army sent a two-man team to Los Angeles to pick up AWOL Pvt. Ralph William Myers, who flew a small plane too close to President Reagan’s helicopter, but Secret Service agents said they want to hold him a little longer. Myers, whose private pilot’s license was revoked after his rented plane flew within a few hundred feet of the President’s helicopter, is being held in the brig at Long Beach Naval Station, and Maj. Frank Ham said the runaway soldier was to be taken back to face his company commander at Ft. Lewis, Wash. Secret Service agent Gary Jenkins said agents want to question Myers again, not because they believe he intended any harm to the President but in connection with a possible charge of violating restricted airspace.