It should have been a routine security inspection for Transportation Security Administration agent Robert Kennish — similar to one he'd done countless times before.
But as he walked down the jet bridge inside Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday night, the 36-year-old Metuchen resident came upon a chaotic scene as passengers were leaving a Virgin America flight arriving from San Francisco: One of the passengers had collapsed and had stopped breathing.
Kennish rushed to the woman's side and discovered she didn't have a pulse. A former federal marshal and EMT, Kennish is trained in CPR immediately began resuscitating the woman.
Two passengers, one an ophthalmologist and the other a nurse, also jumped in to help as a flight attendant brought an automated external defibrillator.
After a few tense moments, Kennish felt a pulse.
"Afterwards I couldn’t believe it," Kennish, an 11-year veteran of the TSA, said in an interview today. "She had a strong pulse — I couldn’t believe it."
The woman and her husband, neither of whom were identified, were taken to a local hospital by paramedics, a TSA spokeswoman said.
Kennish said the successful rescue was a group effort, but his superiors credited him with saving the woman's life.
“Kennish demonstrated amazing personal courage and skill in emergency response,” said Don Drummer, TSA’s federal security director for the airport. "In all likelihood, Rob’s decisive actions saved this passenger’s life.”