Man Dies as Airport Security Doors Keep EMTs Away

Emergency responders trying to get to a man inside Kennedy Airport's Delta terminal were twice thwarted at the security doors, and the New Jersey man ended up dying after a heart attack Saturday. Gunseye Adekunle, 50, was waiting to board a flight to Nigeria when he collapsed inside the newly renovated terminal, the New York Post reports. A Port Authority ambulance responded, but the officer's security card wouldn't get them through the secure doors, and they were delayed two minutes before using another route to get inside.

Because that team included only EMTs, an FDNY crew of paramedics was also en route—but they, too, were denied access when the police officer escorting them found his security card didn't work. He made two attempts at one entry point, and a third attempt at another, but failed each time, a source says. Adekunle was finally brought down to the FDNY ambulance and taken to the hospital, where he was declared dead. "You had all the assets needed to keep this guy alive, but they never really had the chance to help him," says a law enforcement source. (More airport security stories.)