A ranting Russian man who caused 45 jets to be delayed at Newark Airport over the weekend was nabbed after a quick-thinking traveler tossed his luggage in his path, tripping him, sources said Monday.
Andrei Kuzmine, 43, had barged through the exit of checkpoint C-3 inside Terminal C around 7 p.m. when the unidentified flier threw his bags in front of the raving man, sources said.
The move caused the emotionally disturbed Kuzmine to trip and US Customs Agent Eric Cavalieri to grab and hold him at gunpoint until he could handcuff him and turn him over to PAPD cops moments later, sources said.
Once in PAPD custody, Kuzmine blurted out: “They’re after me, they are here to kill me. You don’t understand. I know things and people want to kill me.”
The disturbance resulted in the area being evacuated for nearly two hours and caused 42 out-going jets to be delayed from 20 to 90 minutes and three arriving jets to be delayed for approximately an hour.
Kuzmine, who was staying at a Manhattan hotel in Midtown, possessed a Russian passport but no ticket, sources said. He had a visa showing his stay had been sponsored by his employer, Ernst & Young. He was taken to a Newark hospital for psychiatric evaluation, where he remained Monday.
Amy Well, a spokesman for Ernst & Young, in Washington, DC, declined to comment upon the incident or Kuzmine’s employment history with the firm.
Kuzmine’s wife told cops from Miami that although she and her husband were divorcing, he did not use either drugs or alcohol and had never previously displayed mental instability, a source said.