A 55-year-old man, identified as John Taddei and a Queens resident, was left in the hands of authorities after he illegally entered a room at the Park Hyatt hotel in Manhattan with a white powder that turned out to be a chemical. according to the police.
The investigators are trying to understand how Taddei entered the room without the hotel staff realizing it. Property workers, who say the hotel failed to inform them of what was happening, have heard a theory.
“That it was a guy who found a key on the street, and who went in and stayed in the room for two days,” said Kimberly González, the hotel’s housekeeper.
The investigation reveals that a maid came in to clean the room, where a family had stayed four hours earlier, and when she was removing a white powder in the bathroom sink, she felt dizzy.
We only found traces. The housekeeper had cleaned up most of it, the police chief said.
Following an emergency call, firefighters carried out a first test and believed they had found signs of explosive material.
This caused the total evacuation of the hotel.
Alarmed, the FBI, counterterrorism units of the New York Police Department, and a bomb squad were involved.
“I said ‘wow’ but what’s going on oh my god. And with all these dogs there with the police,” said Loren Santos, who works next door to the hotel.
Thanks to the surveillance videos, the authorities were quick to find Taddei, whom they had defined as an “acquaintance”, given that he has 16 previous arrests to his credit.
“I’m scared! For me, that is because I have my children, I think about everything, that is, I am afraid of not being safe at work,” added González.
After further tests on the strange substance, the specialists concluded that it was “a false positive”, but this does not console Kimberly González, given that after feeling nauseous, her colleague ended up in hospital.
“She walked into the room, felt dizzy and went to the hospital. But they didn’t tell us anything here.”
The incident occurred Tuesday afternoon at the hotel which is one block from the famous Central Park
The suspect is charged with theft of services, as he was not a hotel guest, and trespassing. Other charges due to the chemical could follow.
