A busy terminal at Newark International Airport was evacuated and shut down for over an hour this afternoon after TSA screeners decided that a baby had slipped through security without a proper inspection. TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein tells us the incident occurred at 1:30 p.m. at the C-1 Terminal Checkpoint. As Farbstein describes it, the incident was caused by what might be considered a clever way to sneak something through a metal detector:
This occurred when a mother and baby went through a metal detector and the machine alarmed. The mother handed the child to the father, who had already been screened. The mother was then cleared without the baby. The parents and baby left the checkpoint and headed to their gate. Since the baby was not properly screened, TSA officers began to look for the family in the secure area of the terminal. Per protocol, TSA also notified Port Authority Police of the situation.
But the TSA was unable to find the potentially lethal baby, and so Port Authority Police decided to evacuate the terminal, sweep it for explosives and rescreen all of the passengers. It's assumed the family boarded their flight and were on their way before the terminal was shut down, and the terminal ultimately reopened just before 3 p.m. Anyway, a total pain in the neck for everyone trying to fly out of the terminal, and we don't know who to blame more—the TSA, Port Authority, or terrorism! So, as in all things, we'll just blame babies.
Update 6:20 p.m.: Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman tells us, "Over 30 minutes after an unscreened passenger went through a TSA checkpoint, the TSA notified us, at which point our police took immediate action to make sure the breach did not endanger passengers or our facility. We’re not going to second guess a real-time decision made by our police department to err on the side of caution and protect passenger safety.”
