A man searching for help when his Jet Ski broke down inadvertently discovered a flaw in the security system at JFK. INSIDE EDITION talks to the man.
Daniel Casillo breached security at New York’s JFK airport and triggered a nationwide alert.
Now, Casillo is speaking out about how he inadvertently exposed flaws in America’s airport security by climbing a perimeter fence and walking across two busy runways undetected.
JFK is one of the world's busiest airports and it boasts one of the most sophisticated security systems. The airport's perimeter intrusion detection system cost $100 million, but, incredibly, it failed. It happened last August to 32-year-old Casillo of Queens, New York, who shot a video riding aboard a Jet Ski.
He was riding close to JFK Airport when his Jet Ski developed engine trouble and stalled. As darkness fell all he could see were the lights from a control tower.
“I made a decision to basically swim toward the tower. I had something to focus on, kind of like a survival tactic, something visible to use as a guide,” he told INSIDE EDITION.
He swam a mile to shore, and then had to wade through a deep mosquito-infested marsh.
He said, “I had to climb through this horrible rancid mud that was up to my stomach.”
When he finally got to solid ground, he came upon the perimeter fence at JFK airport, bristling with security cameras and motion detectors. Yet no one spotted him or stopped him.
He said, “I was shaking. I was freezing. I was soaking wet. I was exhausted. I didn't know what else to do at that point.”
So he climbed the fence thinking that would set off an alarm. But still, no one came.
He said, “I thought that going over the fence I would be seen on camera. I thought that something would go off. Something would happen.”
He says he even came across a security patrol.
"I was waving it down and it drove right - they didn't even look at me,” he said.
Incredibly, he walked across two busy runways, and ended up at the Delta Airlines terminal.
Embarrassed Port Authority Police immediately arrested him. He says he was kept in a cell for 18 hours with no change of clothes.
He was charged with criminal trespass. He says his desperate fight for survival exposed flaws in America’s security.
INSIDE EDITION’s Diane McInerney asked, What was your intention?”
He said, “My main intention was to get out of the water and save my life.”
