The Port Authority Police Department report gives a slightly different account. It says the TSA screener picked up and screened the wrong bag.
When the mistake was discovered shortly thereafter, the traveler had already left the checkpoint, and the screener could not describe the passenger.
Authorities shut down the checkpoint, and a breach of security was issued, the Port Authority report says.
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At 11:18 a.m., TSA screeners looked at recordings captured by the closed circuit television cameras. They told police they figured out who the unidentified passenger was. They gave police a description of a black female traveling with a black male. But when the two travelers were located and rescreened, it was found that they were not the folks involved in the breach.
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The TSA then gave a description of a tall black male carrying a black laptop bag, according to the police report. That person was also found, and ruled out.
"This process continued three more times," the police report says. Police found, and then ruled out, a white woman traveling with two children in a stroller, a 6-foot white male wearing a brown shirt and jeans and carrying a suitcase, and a white male with curly brown hair wearing a JetBlue uniform.
After the fifth false identification, authorities ordered the terminal area shut down and cleared. All passengers, flight crews and employees were told to leave for rescreening.
