A cross-dresser was caught walking on to the tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport on Christmas Day.
A Jersey City man, Siyah Bryant, 24, was able to breach security by simply hopping over the fence and waling on to the tarmac. He was wearing women's red pants and a brown sweater when he allegedly got into a fights in a car parked near the airport and decided to go to the tarmac. He was reportedly on a date with another man when their car ran out of gas. His date called a third man to bring them gas and Bryant said he felt uncomfortable by that, so he set off on foot, the New York Post reports.
Bryant was able to scale the security fence at the airport and got across two runways without being noticed before trying to enter Terminal C. A United Airlines worker confronted him and called the cops. Bryant was charged with criminal trespass.
This is the second reported incident of someone breaching the the Perimeter Intrusion Detection System, or PIDS, a multi-layered security system that has been in place at the region's airports for several years. The high-tech system includes special fencing and surveillance equipment that is supposed to help stop intruders. In July 2011, a jet skier was able to get through the system and walk on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airports,says the system worked correctly, so an investigation is being done on the contractor that operates the system.
"The PAPD continues to review why it took an unacceptably long time for officers to locate and take into custody a suspect who was being held by an airport employee after he was found on the Terminal C ramp at Newark Liberty International Airport on Wednesday morning," a statement from PAPD Chief Louie Koumoutsos read according to the New York Post. "After a daylong review of video from the airport, it appears the PIDS security system worked as designed, as an alarm was signaled and the cameras captured an image of an individual coming over the fence."
"The investigation is now focusing on the actions of the third-party operator who monitors the camera and the alarms," Koumoutsos continued. "The investigation will continue until we have answers regarding this matter."
The Port Authority is not sure how or why Bryant entered the tarmac or why he was wearing female clothing.
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