A man that was stranded on a disabled jet ski in New York’s Jamaica Bay managed to breach perimeter security at JFK International Airport Friday night, in what is surely an embarrassment to airport and security officials.
Daniel Castillo, 31, was arrested at JFK’s Terminal 3 after becoming stranded on his jet ski, forcing him to swim to the closest lights and land, which happened to be the airport’s runway 4L, according to the NY Post. Upon reaching shore, Castillo climbed an 8-foot fence, walked across the runway, then also across runway 31L and eventually to Terminal 3, almost a 2-mile walk. It was only then that a Delta employee spotted the man in his bright, yellow lifejacket, which led to his apprehension by Port Authority Police.
Questions now are raised as to why the Port Authority’s $100 million Perimeter Intrusion Detection System (PIDS), loaded up with closed-circuit cameras and motion sensors, failed completely, and how a man can walk such a distance unnoticed.
This is not JFK Airport’s first perimeter breach, however. In early 2009, a trio of boaters ran ashore at the airport, wandered across a runway and showed up at the Port Authority Police rescue station themselves. They had become lost in their inflatable fishing raft during a storm.
Former NYPD veteran and former MTA deputy security director told ABC News “I think he should be given dinner and a bottle of champagne for showing us our faults,” but after a 3-mile swim, breaching an airport perimeter and a 2-mile walk in heavy, wet clothes, perhaps he should be given a trophy and a Navy SEAL Trident as well.
No flights were delayed, nor service interrupted, during Friday night’s breach.
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