DoorDasher drives onto Chicago O'Hare Airport's tarmac to deliver order

A DoorDash driver drove onto Chicago O'Hare International Airport's tarmac to deliver a food order to a customer after a private security guard failed to report the breach.

According to surveillance video footage newly obtained by WGN Investigates, the delivery driver pulled up in his red Hyundai Elantra just behind and to the right of a United Airlines wide body jet parked at Terminal 1, Concourse C around midday on May 17. The driver stopped the vehicle for about 20 seconds before pulling forward again and then stopping alongside the jet.

While baggage handlers noticed and approached the driver, a marked Chicago police vehicle didn't arrive until nearly 10 minutes later. The video footage is unclear as to whether police or airport security officers may have approached the scene sooner on foot.

The driver entered the restricted area through a security gate at the southeast corner of O'Hare, meaning that he traveled a significant distance across the airfield without being stopped or raising any alarm.

“No guard was clearly visible and [he] proceeded through the gate, following instructions from his GPS coordinates in an aim to deliver the meal,” the driver told police, per records obtained by the news outlet. There was a food order and DoorDash receipt in the driver's car, according to police, who released him without issuing any citations.

The private security guard who was at the perimeter checkpoint that the driver drove through told police that she didn't immediately report the breach.

“The vehicle had indeed driven through her post to which she regarded as strange and unfamiliar,” the guard told officers, according to their reports. “She then closed the gate but made no attempt to contact [the operations center] or notify her direct supervisor.”

“Following this incident, [Chicago Department of Aviation] leadership met with the contractor, Lincoln Security, to review what occurred and referred the matter to the Transportation Security Administration for further investigation,” O'Hare spokesperson Kevin Bargnes told WGN Investigates. “The employee involved is no longer employed by Lincoln Security, and their airport credentials have been terminated by the CDA.”

The news outlet reached out to DoorDash, which didn't answer a question about whether the driver is still delivering food for the company.