Brendan Mcdermid-Reuters via Imagn Images
A New York Police Department (NYPD) detective who was supposed to be out on sick leave allegedly showed up at the Ryder Cup golf tournament pretending to be part of President Donald Trump’s security detail. The detective was reportedly caught on Friday at the Long Island golf course wearing full tactical gear.
He might have gotten away with it too if not for one critical mistake. Actual security personnel caught on to his ruse when he accidentally dropped his gun magazine in front of them.
Detective Melvin Eng, 46, now faces administrative charges for theft of services and has been suspended by the New York Police Department without pay. How he got past Secret Service agents and numerous others in law enforcement is now a question that must be answered.
“What if he was looking to hurt someone?” a police source told the New York Post. “He got in there with his gun, past the Secret Service, past the State Police.”
“You’re out sick, what are you doing at the Ryder Cup?” another veteran cop said about Eng’s alleged ruse. “You can’t do that. And it’s theft of service because you went in for free and then you lied and said you worked for Donald Trump.”
Security measures at the Ryder Cup
Before his arrival at the Ryder Cup, a protective box of Perspex glass was set up for President Trump near the players’ entrance tunnel by the first tee at Bethpage. Snipers were also set up atop the grandstand behind his protective box. Bomb sniffing dogs and drones were also deployed, and numerous items, including range finders, portable folding chairs, torch-style lighters, large vaping devices, laptops, and tablets were banned from the event. Despite those precautions, Trump still walked American golfer Bryson DeChambeau out onto the first tee before his match.
DailyMail.com reports that security was so tight at the event that Secret Service agents stopped a member of medical staff who tried to respond to a medical emergency in the clubhouse until a Team USA official vouched for him.
None of those precautions, however, allegedly stopped Detective Melvin Eng from getting into the Ryder Cup, with his gun, and getting within close proximity to the President of the United States.