Security footage shows the final moments of a man who died after climbing into the engine of a plane at Salt Lake City International Airport.
Video shows that before Kyler Efinger, 30, died on January 1, he breached airport security, burst through an emergency exit and then ran shoeless across the runway.
His body was later discovered the inside ‘a wing-mounted engine of an occupied commercial aircraft’ bound for San Francisco.
Police administered CPR and naloxone, a medicine used to reverse an opioid overdose, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Efinger was scheduled to fly from Utah to Denver, Colorado to visit his sick grandfather before he suffered the unspecified episode, FOX 13 reported. His family suspects the incident stemmed from a separate mental health crisis.
Kyler Efinger, 30, breached Salt Lake City International Airport security before he climbed into the engine of a plane and died on January 1. CCTV shows Efinger ran towards a locked gate door, tried to open it and then began beating his shoes on a nearby window
Another airport security camera caught Efinger kicking open an emergency exit door and running down a stairwell
Efinger somehow made it on the tarmac, with video from a thermal imaging camera showing him approaching a slowly taxiing Delta Airlines plane. He runs towards the aircraft, but the video cuts before he reaches it
At around 9:52 pm on New Year’s Day, a store manager inside the airport contacted dispatchers with the Airport Control Center to report a ‘disturbance involving a passenger on the secured side of the terminal.’
Airport control later told officers with the Salt Lake City Police Department’s (SLCPD) Airport Division that the man had escaped through an emergency exit door.
Newly released CCTV shows Efinger running towards a locked door at gate A2 in only his socks, carrying his shoes in hand, and attempts to open the door.
Efinger then speaks with an apparent custodian before running off and attempting to open a locked door at gate A1. He is seen tugging on the door handle before falling to the ground.
He gets back up and pulls at the handle again, before rushing over to a window next to the door and beating it with his shoes. He then runs off again.
Another airport security camera caught Efinger kicking open an emergency exit door and running down a stairwell.
Efinger somehow made it on the tarmac, with video from a thermal imaging camera showing him approaching a slowly taxiing Delta Airlines plane. He runs towards the aircraft, but the video cuts before he reaches it.
His father Judd Efinger told FOX 13 that he spoke with his ‘manic’ son the night of the fatal incident.
Judd said: ‘He got held up in security, missed his flight, and those phone calls, I just knew it was coming on. They call it the manic phase. Those just don’t end well for him. Obviously, this one, the worst ever.’
Kyler Efinger died after climbing into the engine of a Delta flight at Salt Lake City International Airport
Authorities and airport employees attempted to perform life-saving measures on Efinger, including administering naloxone, but he died at the scene
The commercial flight was bound for San Francisco and was said to be ‘occupied’ at the time
Efinger passed through an emergency exit before climbing through the cowling, which is the removable cover housing the engine (pictured in a stock photo)
Previously released photographs from the scene showed law enforcement personnel gathered at the foot of the plane.
SLCPD officers and airport employees tried to remove Efinger, who was found unconscious, through the cowling, which is the removable cover over the engine.
The Salt Lake City Fire Department assisted attempts to revive the man, including administering naloxone, but the efforts proved unsuccessful.
‘Based on the officers’ training and experience and their observation, they did believe that there had been some indicators that the use of naloxone may have been appropriate,’ a SLCPD told KSL-TV.
Efinger’s personal items, including clothing and his shoes, were found on a runway.
Although airport operations carried on as normal after the incident, police said they worked to secure the area and deplane passengers.
Local and federal officials have launched a death investigation into the circumstances surrounding his passing. The cause of his death has not yet been released.