Man Responsible for Newark Airport Security Breach Still on the Loose
Flights coming in and out of Newark airport were severely halted last night when an unidentified man accidentally walked through a checkpoint at around 5:20pm. This possible security breach caused the T.S.A. to stop screening passengers and then about two and a half hours later, the T.S.A. ordered all passengers on the sterile side to move back to the public side for rescreening. This resulted in nearly 7 hours of delays for Contintental Airlines flights coming in and out of the airport since there were no open gates available.
“A male individual was observed walking the wrong way down an exit lane in Terminal C at Newark Liberty Airport,” Davis said. “TSA was notified and we immediately halted screening at the security checkpoints in Terminal C and worked with the Port Authority to pull the surveillance tapes in the area to determine what transpired and see if we could identify the individual in question.”
Unfortunately, the individual who initiated this whole mess has yet to be located by airport security. This is probably the most disconcerting part of the story – the fact such a stir was caused by a single individual, and after 7 hours of searching, airport security was still not able to locate him. If this man was or is a serious threat, then this is unacceptable on airport’s security’s part, especially after delaying so many flights and passengers.
(Source: the NYTimes and NY1)
