The parents of a Utah man say their 30-year-old son was experiencing an “obvious mental health episode” when he entered restricted areas of an airport and died after climbing into a plane’s engine. They are now suing Salt Lake City, alleging his death could have been prevented with proper safeguards and response.
On Jan. 1, 2024, the Salt Lake City Police Department said the victim, Kyler Efinger of Park City, was a ticketed passenger at Salt Lake City International Airport with a boarding pass to Denver. The airport is overseen by the Salt Lake City Department of Airports.
According to a complaint filed Tuesday, Dec. 30, in Utah by his parents, Judd and Lisa Efinger, Kyler was traveling to visit his ill grandfather. Court documents state he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder about a decade earlier and “occasionally experienced episodes in which he became visibly disoriented.”
The lawsuit alleges that around 9 p.m. local time, Efinger experienced a manic episode and left his gate. Surveillance footage reportedly shows him repeatedly walking and running along moving walkways, behavior described in the complaint as “objectively unusual for an adult.”
Roughly 30 minutes later, Efinger entered a Utah Jazz store near an airport gate, according to the filing. The store manager said Efinger’s behavior was so unusual that he discounted a jersey to speed up the transaction. After Efinger left without his rolling bag, the manager contacted Airport Operations, which made two announcements asking him to return for the bag.
When Efinger returned, he was reportedly barefoot with his shirt half-zipped. The complaint says he accused the manager of holding his bag “hostage,” claimed his “whole life” was inside it, and demanded a refund. As the manager called the airport emergency line, Efinger left again, running down the terminal. The lawsuit alleges Airport Operations staff took no further action despite his agitated and incoherent state.
At about 9:52 p.m., Efinger attempted to open a locked jet bridge door at a gate with a docked plane. He then tried another locked gate door and fell, according to the complaint, before getting up and striking a nearby window with his shoe.
The lawsuit alleges Efinger then exited through an emergency gate door leading from the terminal’s sterile area to the secure apron. That door, the filing claims, lacked a delayed egress locking system that would have required a 15- to 20-second wait before opening. He ran down stairs and through another door, also allegedly without protective safeguards, onto the tarmac.
“The City did not maintain any impediments to prevent a visibly disoriented person from freely accessing the tarmac, with all of its inherent dangers, without being noticed or tracked,” the complaint states, calling the conditions unsafe.
The filing further alleges that the emergency door alarm should have immediately alerted personnel to the exact time and location of Efinger’s exit, but that staff either did not know where he exited or failed to communicate that information clearly. Audio communications cited in the complaint suggest confusion among dispatchers and officers during the search, with about eight minutes passing before authorities identified the correct exit point.
Efinger then made his way onto a runway, where he allegedly removed his pants and undergarments, leaving him wearing only a jersey and socks. Around 10:07 p.m., he reached a deicing area near the runway. About a minute later, he ran toward an Airbus aircraft that had just begun taxiing. The suit alleges that city personnel failed to notify air traffic controllers, pilots, or ground crews that a disoriented person was on the tarmac near the deicing pad by Runway 34L.
A pilot later told authorities he shut down the plane’s engine after spotting Efinger, according to court records. The complaint says Efinger climbed into the engine cowling while it was still running. The engine blades allegedly caught his hair and fatally injured him.
“Kyler passed away from blunt head trauma from his head being forcibly pulled against the blades of the engine,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit alleges Efinger would still be alive if officers had located him just 30 seconds sooner, describing the initial search efforts as “wholly ineffective.” It accuses Salt Lake City of failing to maintain safe premises and security systems, using an unsafe emergency exit design, failing to alert aviation personnel, and lacking a coordinated emergency response.
In addition to a wrongful death claim, Efinger’s parents allege negligence and premises liability. They are seeking damages exceeding $300,000 and a jury trial.
In a statement released through their attorneys, the parents said they filed the suit “to seek accountability and to effect positive change so something like this doesn’t happen to another family,” adding that people experiencing mental health crises “need our help, support, and compassion.”
A spokesperson for the Salt Lake City mayor’s office declined to comment on the allegations due to the pending litigation.
